Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) will hit her 50th Test Match during the Six Nations in April 2026.
Although proud of this upcoming personal achievement, she took some time to speak to the experts at ACME Whistles about how the whole refereeing community celebrates success collectively rather than competitively.
“Our team culture means that it’s easy to support each other when people get picked to referee certain matches over someone else,” she said.
Aimee, along with Italy’s Clara Munarini, joined Hollie Davidson as ARs in the final of this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup. When asked how she felt about it, Barrett-Theron is candid, saying:
“Everyone across the reffing group would have wanted to ref that final and of course there are disappointments, but because we are a team of good people it makes it easy to support each other and celebrate one another’s achievements.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to do some self-reflection and think about how we can change and improve for the next selection.
“While it’s tough when you don’t see your name up there, it makes you resilient and we never point fingers or think someone doesn’t deserve it. We remember that this time we didn’t do well enough and next time we might, but for now we celebrate the person who got there and the positive impact this has on us showcasing that we’re the best team on that field.”
Looking ahead, Aimee is preparing for 2027 with the British & Irish Lions Women’s Tour featuring three Test Matches against the Black Ferns, the dominant six-time world champions.
“This will be another landmark for the women’s game and then I want to be bold enough to say that 2029 is very much my long-term goal.
“I think it’ll be really exciting once more referees become professional and all the teams are at a fully professional level, not just a little tick box with a small contract and it’s only for one specific World Cup, for example.
“Getting the whole game being more professional will be amazing for us and for the crowds to see and hopefully unions to react as well because it’s crazy to think there’s only three professional referees in the whole group. And from the last World Cup, there were still only three professional referees so, we’d like to see a big change in that in the future.
“I would struggle to leave a group as special as this and leave the women’s game at this moment when it is absolutely flying. I want to be part of it as much as I can so onwards and upwards from here.”
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