Heineken Cup organisers, ERC, today (Thursday, 25 March) announced the appointments of Dave Pearson, George Clancy, Nigel Owens and Alan Lewis as the tournament's quarter-final referees, and also named the No 1 touch judges for the prestigious games.
In a further development of ERC's match official strategy, Wayne Barnes, Chris White, Romain Poite and Alain Rolland will not only assume the role of lead touch judge, but they have also been nominated as substitute referees who would take over from the appointed referee in the event of injury.
All four highly-experienced officials will come back into the frame for consideration for both the tournament's semi-finals and final along with the referees already chosen for the quarter-finals.
In another initiative aimed at providing greater quality and variety of officiating across the Heineken Cup knockout stages, ERC has also decided to combine referees and touch judges from different countries whereas in the past each team of officials was appointed from a single country.
England's Pearson gets the action underway when defending champions Leinster meet ASM Clermont Auvergne under the RDS floodlights on Friday, 9 April, while the first of the Saturday action will be refereed by Clancy (Ireland) who takes charge of the Biarritz Olympique-Ospreys game in the Spanish city of San Sebastian.
Owens of Wales will handle the clash of two former champions, Munster and Northampton Saints, at Thomond Park, and Lewis (Ireland) will referee the all-French quarter-final between Toulouse and Stade Francais at Le Stadium on Sunday, 11 April.
HEINEKEN CUP 2009/10 QUARTER-FINALS
(All Kick-Offs LOCAL Time)
FRIDAY, 9 APRIL 2010
20.00 Leinster v ASM Clermont Auvergne - RDS (Dublin) - Referee: Dave Pearson (E)
No 1 Touch Judge: Wayne Barnes (E) - Sky Sports / Canal+Sport / Sky Italia/ RTE*
SATURDAY, 10 APRIL 2010
16.00 Biarritz Olympique v Ospreys - Estadio Anoeta (San Sebastian) - Referee: George Clancy (I)
No 1 Touch Judge: Chris White (E) - FR 2 / Sky Sports / Sky Italia/ S4C*
17.30 Munster v Northampton Saints - Thomond Park (Limerick) - Referee: Nigel Owens (W), No 1 Touch Judge: Romain Poite (F) - Sky Sports / Sport + / Sky Italia/ RTE*
SUNDAY, 11 APRIL 2010
17.30 Toulouse v Stade Français Paris - Le Stadium (Toulouse) - Referee: Alan Lewis (I), No 1 Touch Judge: Alain Rolland (I) - FR 2 / Sky Sports / Sky Italia
*Highlights
HEINEKEN CUP 2009/10 SEMI-FINALS
(To be played 1 / 2 May)
The winner of the first named quarter-final in each pairing will have home country advantage.
Semi-final 1: Toulouse or Stade Français Paris v Leinster or ASM Clermont Auvergne
Semi-final 2: Biarritz Olympique or Ospreys v Munster or Northampton Saints
