Refereeing changes in Week Five
SANZAR has made changes to the referees originally appointed to referee Week Five of Super Rugby.
Bryce Lawrence has a hamstring problem and has withdrawn from active duty in Friday's match between the Blues and the Hurricanes.
In fact, he pulled out of the match between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders last weekend and was replaced by Keith Brown, one of his assistants. This time he has withdrawn as an assistant to Steve Walsh takes Lawrence's place while he goes to television match official and Ben Skeen moves from match official to assistant referee.
Rohan Hoffman becomes an assistant referee when the Rebels play the Force. He takes the place of Andrew Lees.
Hoffman, an Australian, was in Portugal for several years and played in the three-quarters for Portugal. He then took up refereeing and refereed his first Test when he did Malta vs Sweden in the European Nations Cup. Back in Australia he is making strides in refereeing, refereeing in the IRB Sevens series, doing Queensland A against the Fiji Warriors and acting as an assistant referee in Super Rugby.
Mark Lawrence, because of commitments on the home front, is unable to travel and his place in the Brumbies vs Highlanders' match is taken by Lourens van der Merwe.
It is Van der Merwe's first appointment as a Super Rugby referee. Van der Merwe was to have been an assistant referee for the Bulls vs the Reds. His place is taken by Quinton Immelman.
Updated Week Five match officials:
Blues vs Hurricanes
Referee: Steve Walsh
Assistant referees: Jonathon White, Ben Skeen
Television match official: Bryce Lawrence
Rebels vs Force
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner, Rohan Hoffman
Television match official: Matt Goddard
Brumbies vs Highlanders
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker, Simon Moore
Television match official: Steve Lesczcynski
Bulls vs Reds
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman, Stefan Breytenbach
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman