First Test for Norwegian Bouchet
Vincent Bouchet of Norway referees his first Test on Saturday when Finland play Bulgaria in Helsinki. He is just the second Norwegian to referee a Test.
Proud to be a Norwegian referee, Bouchet is actually a Frenchman by origin and citizenship.
Bouchet was born on 11 May 1979 in Rochefort sur Mer, France of a rugby-mad family.
He says: "I'm from a rugby family, which means rugby is a kind of religion for us. My grandfather played rugby, my uncles and my father played together in the same National Division 2 team and all my cousins played rugby. One of my cousins was part of Under-21 of the professional team of La Rochelle. That it gives you an idea of how much I could love rugby."
Bouchet played rugby from the age of 6 until 17 at US Saujon Rugby Club and also started refereeing early.
His father, Pascal Bouchet, who is still involved in assessing in France's Top 14, was a top referee and Vincent started refereeing in September 1995. He was just 16. He is only 30 now but has 14 years' experience. He joined the referees of the Comité Charentes-Poitou, Secteur de La Rochelle, a part of Federation Francaise de Rugby.
He says: "I started by refereeing juniors games, and then I got rapidly all the required degrees to referee in the national division. I reached the national division in 2000, and progressed slowly but surely through the different levels."
In 2000 he had his first match in a national division - Fédérale 3. In 2005 he refereed the Final of 1st Women National Division and in 2007 refereed his first game in Frances Fédérale 1, a national, semi-professional league.
Unsurprisingly, his father is the one who helped him most in his career. "He is still very strict and demanding of me."
In August 2008 Vincent, a researcher in marine ecology, moved to Norway, to the Department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo, and he got involved in rugby at club and refereeing levels.
He is coaching the women team of the Oslo Rugby Klubb. "It give me a lot of pleasure, mainly because the team is made up mainly of Norwegians, unlike the men's teams in which foreigners are in the majority.
"The girls listen to comments and show lots of motivation to improve their rugby. They just won their first tournament ever, which make me so proud of them. When you have the chance to come from a major rugby country, I think it’s very important then to try to transmit your passion and knowledge to make rugby more popular and spread worldwide."
Rugby in Norway is, as Vincent says, "a small sport". "There are quite a number of foreigners involved in Norwegian rugby (both players and referees). The level of playing is OK, and improving at the moment. The structures are also improving, and I hope that rugby will become more popular. For example, the next game of the national team Norway vs Denmark in two weeks' time will be shown on national TV for the first time ever."
There are 15 referees in Norway, and Vincent is graded No.1. Ashley Morton, who became the first Norwegian to referee a Test when he refereed Bosnia & Herzegovina vs Azerbaijan last year, is in charge of the referee committee, but will stop at the end of the year and Vincent will take over as chairman.
In March this year he was elected to the board of the Norges Rugbyforbund (Norwegian Rugby union). Apart from Saturday's Test he refereed at the European men's Sevens championship in Sopot, Poland, this year and on 24 October will referee the Final of the Norwegian club championship.
But it's this Saturday that is his focus. On Friday afternoon he flies off to Helsinki for the match. In an oldfashioned arrangement, he will have one Finnish and one Bulgarian assistant.
The whole of the refereeing world will wish Vincent well.