Currie Cup first for Aussie ref

Brett Bowden of Canberra, the referees manager in ACT and a Super 14 referee, is in South Africa for a fortnight and in that time he will referee Currie Cup rugby - a first for a foreigner in modern times.

Overseas referees have refereed in South Africa on many, many occasions but not at Currie Cup level.

This year Bowden refereed in Super 14 and was going well but for some reason took flak for a match between the Reds and the Force in Perth - a poor match with difficult scrums for which the referee was given some of the blame, which seemed harsh. That was the last of his Super 14 refereeing this year.

While he was here later in the Super 14 as a touch judge, he got into conversation with Andre Watson, South Africa's Refereeing Manager, and Tappe Henning, an IRB selector. Part of getting back on track was to come to South Africa to referee.

Bowden cleared his intentions with Peter Marshall, Australia's Manager of Referees.

Bowden said of his plan: "I thought it a good step in my refereeing development to come here. The standard of refereeing is good in South Africa and I thought I could start to get back on track after a tough time in the Super 14.

"It is an arrangement between me and South African referees.

"I love referees in South Africa. It's very relaxing, because the hype is on the field and off the field things are relaxed.

"I also enjoy coming to South Africa."

Asked about it, Watson said that he had an agreement with Australia and South Africa that an interchange of referees could take place below Super 14 level.

That meant that South African referees would not lose out through "giving away" matches to visitors.

Watson said: "It's just a positive step in the fellowship of rugby and refereeing."