Advantage Over podcast for rugby referees

Today, we're joined by Holly Wood, Rugby World Cup 2025 match official and referee across the men's and women's leagues here in England. This weekend (28 June 2026), she will referee the PWR Final between Saracens Women and Trailfinders Women - just 10 weeks or so post-partum. In this episode, recorded just days before baby #2 joined the world, we chat about her elite performance background, her r...

Andrew Rowland, previously chair of Rugby Southland Referees joins me to talk about two initiatives they are running in the furthest south peninsula of New Zealand. Firstly their Referees of the Future Scholarship initiative - a new way of attracting young (and not so young....) people into refereeing. We look at what's behind it, what's the 'offer' and how it's going so far. There's some more inf...

Today, we're joined by Hollie Davidson in a different type of interview - different because the questions weren't asked by Keith. This is the audio of a longer interview conducted by Laura-Jane Jones for TNT Sport in November last year, but made available with other media outlets. It's full of gold! If you missed the last episode with Tarsh Ganley, then you can listen here Areas covered in today's...

Today, I'm joined by Natarsha Ganley from New Zealand to chat about her rise from newbie to Rugby World Cup referee. We chat about her starting story, her new day job, her referee career to date, overcoming injury at a crucial point in the selection cycle, and her RWC experiences. We also chat about what's next, including how she's heading north for three months in 2026 to gain refereeing experien...

Today, we're joined by Jonny Cartwright, who you may know as The_Bald_Ref on Instagram. He's just been recognised as Loosehead Of the Year 2025 at the Looseheadz Community Awards. We talk about: Jonny's journey from coach to referee How he develops referees in his role as T&D lead in Manchester & District Referees (MADRefs) How Looseheadz is and how he got into supporting them (trigger war...

Hi, it's Keith here and after numerous prods from you, dear listeners, it was time to get the recording device out once again. Bit of a catch up on a few things in today's episode: Women's RWC match officiating Refereeing a foul play scenario after a try Charging down a Try Line Drop out Refereeing the new open play pod lift A tricky situation for me with a piece of player equipment Relevant links...

In this episode, Keith talks through the announcement from World Rugby following the Council meeting on 14 November which agreed to the introduction of four Global Law Trials for new competitions/leagues after 1 January 2025. References to "previous episodes" relate to Episode 40: Ep 40 - What is going on with laws and law changes at World Rugby? We talk about: Quicker conversions A new set time t...

This episode is all about you and something I've created for you. It's the sort of thing that I never knew I needed, but now it's a real, physical thing, Im hoping it helps you and your refereeing. It can be a solitary life as a referee - often travelling on our own to matches, not seeing any advisers/coaches every week, and only monthly meetings with our peers. So how can we help you think positi...

A walk through the law change proposals coming out of World Rugby in recent weeks. What is going on? What will actually change?  And when?  In today's episode, I will walk through where this law chat has come from, the importance of World Rugby's Shape of the Game meetings and all the elements that are flowing from that event held at the end of February 2024.  More information menti...

Today, I walk through some great tips for all those rugby coaches out there who have to take charge of a match as a referee. Are you a Coach with a Whistle (TM), rather than a rugby referee? Maybe you're a reluctant ref - a volunteer being thrust forward because you had too much to say during a match? Maybe you just didn't avoid eye contact quickly enough when your parents group were asked for hel...

Today, we're joined by Graeme Bloom - a unique person in the rugby refereeing community. Graeme's a keen supporter of match officials and, despite an MND diagnosis in 2019, he remains committed to staying involved in refereeing our great game. During the conversation we hear about his story and his ambitions to be a referee. We hear a little about his experiences in match officiating so far around...

Hi, Keith Lewis from RugbyReferee.net here with a general update on refereeing news! Plenty to chat about from the referees and refereeing world at the moment! In this episode, I walk through: 1) New formal Law clarification - grounding on a thing in in-goal 2) Law issues Loose ball brought to ground is classed as "held/holding" 2012 Clarification "The player is considered to be carrying the ball...

Today, I'm joined by New Zealand Rugby's Mike Hester to chat about their law variations for the 2023 rugby season. They include a lower tackle height, a restriction on scrum halves and for the pack as a whole. All three are important for all referees and match officials across Aotearoa. Mike is NZR's Game Participation Manager, and he tells me about: His background as an elite referee - in footbal...

It's a Happy New Year to you all! Today, Keith Lewis, founder of RugbyReferee.net and host of the Advantage Over podcast talks through a new World Rugby 2023 Law Application Guideline for 2023. While much of it is targetted at the elite end of the game, the principles within it covers all of rugby no matter what level we're refereeing! So we need to be aware of the drive by World Rugby in these ar...

Today, it's a solo episode with Keith talking through all the new law changes and amends that have now come into play from 1 July 2022. In summary, Keith talks about All the Global Law Trials from last season which move into full law Two new GLTs – scrum brake foot, and restrictions on medics/water carriers Some minor wording where there have had to be a formal  clarifications in law in recen...

Today, we're joined by Tim Wyatt, a Sport and Exercise Psychologist (in training) to chat about... well.. sport and psychology! Especially for us as rugby referees. We chatted about identifying your own values for refereeing, and then how we prep for a game, cope during the game, and finally the importance of reflection. The article to go with this can be found at: https://rugbyreferee.net/20...

Today, it's a solo episode looking at the one of the less pleasant sides of our game - the general increase in angst and poor behaviour on and around the rugby field. We have a look into how to manage and deal with these types of situations, whether it's players baiting each other, angsty touch judges, coaches, replacements and spectators. There's some helpful lines and approaches that we have dis...

I'm joined by Andrew Macpherson, now the High Performance Match Official Manager from Scottish Rugby to talk about their new three year Refereeing and Match Official Development Strategy We chat about: Why there's been a 17 year gap between Scottish international referees The new Match Official Strategy and how it'll help reduce the 17 year gap before the next one How to attract referees up and do...

I'm joined for a second time by Ross Hanbury, a referee fitness specialist who's been working with various referee societies and referees for some years now. We talk about all sorts of things through this episode - from finding small ways to keep mobile while working from home, to getting started again, staying fit when we're all stuck at home, some mobility and speed suggestions. We also go throu...

A slightly different style of show for you here as I bring you the audio of a Facebook Live show, recorded on 22 July 2020, and hosted by Three Blokes, A Ball & Bod . Co-hosted by Advantage Over host Keith Lewis and the show's own Big Joe Sheppard, we were joined by Bay of Plenty Referee Manager, Cam Russell and Premiership Rugby TMO (who had 110 appearances as a Premiership referee) David Ros...

Bonus episode as World Rugby have today outlined 10 possible temporary law changes so that rugby can restart in a post-Coronavirus world. It will be up to individual Unions and competition chiefs to decide whether to introduce the, and which ones, on a temporary basis to suit local regulations or guidance. For full wordings and story, visit: https://rugbyreferee.net/2020/05/28/post-covid-19-law-va...

Today, we're joined by Nick Marshall, active referee and organiser of Marshalling Men's Minds - a community and support network for those with poor mental health, We talked about his refereeing and mental health journeys (one upwards, one less so..) and how he overcame it. We talked about how to spot if you're struggling, what triggers you (or your nearest and dearest may see) as well as how that...

World Rugby have today (12 May 2020) changed the scoring law, removing the ability for a player to score a try by grounding the ball against the post protector. Why? Well listen in and find out! (Hint: player safety) Full story: https://rugbyreferee.net/2020/05/12/law-change-grounded-against-post-protector-removed-as-scoring-possibility/

In the second of our shorter form podcasts, we take a look into refereeing advantage in rugby. It's one of those areas, plenty of people have a view on, so let's look into what the law says, and how we should best look to referee it. As ever, we'd love to know what you think so let us know - find us on social media at @RugbyRefereeNet, or comment on the blog over at rugbyreferee.net --------------...

Welcome to episode 24 of the Advantage Over podcast. This is the first of series of shorter podcasts aimed at keeping your refereeing mind ticking over - especially given the events we’re all living through all over the rugby globe. Today, we're looking at in-goal. Why? Well, it's the most queried area of the game in our community discussions over on Facebook . It’s such an important area, and wit...