Ref Jonker NOT dropped

Contrary to stories doing the rounds the International Rugby Board has not dropped Marius Jonker, the South African referee, from its panel of 19 referees from who it appoints referees to Test matches.

It has happened in the past that referees have been dropped from the panel. This is not the case with Jonker. It has happened in the past that some of those referees who have been dropped have returned to the panel  and performed admirably. Tony Spreadbury and Mark Lawrence are cases in point.

In the case of Jonker the IRB has not seen fit to drop him from the panel. He stays on the panel.

There is general agreement that the Calcutta Cup match in Edinburgh did not go well for him. In such a case a referee may be considered partly to blame and he then is treated like a player who is out of form and dropped. Jonker has not been dropped.

It was not a good match at all, but that is not necessarily the referee's fault.

Stuart Dickinson of Australia was not appointed to a Six Nations match but he has been appointed to a mid-year match when he will reach his half century as a Test referee.

Jonker has been appointed to the European Nations Cup in Bucharest as the senior referee with some promising referees under his wing. The referees with him are all men on the brink of reaching higher honours - Bryan Arciero (Canada), Aruna Ranaweera (USA), Neil Paterson (Scotland).

Clearly Jonker is being given a chance to prove the form which has made him one of the top referees in the world.