Scotland vs England referee
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ire)
ARs: Chris Busby (Ire) & Eoghan Cross (Ire)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)
Hometown: I live in Limerick, I’ve been here for the last 10 years, but my family are based in Wales in Cardiff. I was only meant to be here for a year, but one year led to another and 10 years later they can’t get rid of me!
First memory of Rugby: I played a bit of rugby at primary school, but was quite late when I started playing at a club, probably about 13 years old. My first, and funniest, memory when I was in primary school was one of my first games, and we needed to score to win the game. The ball came to me on the wing, it was probably my only touch of the game, before sprinting down the wing for the winning score. I dived over the line, hand in the air celebrating only to realise it was the 22, not the try line. Hilarious now looking back, but at the time I don’t think my mates were laughing!
No of years refereeing: I was 24 when I finished playing, I just couldn’t continue playing at that level in the all-Ireland League, and referee at the same time, so I turned my focus fully to refereeing at that point. I had to make that decision then because I was coaching with Munster rugby as well so I just couldn’t do it all. Johnny Lacey was the one who approached me and saw potential in me I guess but deep down was probably sick of me giving out about referees every Monday morning so told me to put the whistle where my mouth was…. I just took each game as it came and 8 years later here I am.
First game as a ref: For my first game I did a Munster development match here against Garryowen FC. A good game with a lot of Munster development academy players on show. It was a really good free flowing game to do which was great and I learned a hell of a lot!
First professional game as a ref: Dave McHugh (my referee coach at the time) really threw me in at the deep end for this one. It was only three months after I started refereeing and he put me straight into a British and Irish Cup game. I’ll never forget it, Gala against Leeds… I was chasing shadows for the first half but you learn so much from those games and I knew he wouldn’t have put me into that match if he didn’t think I was able.
First international as a ref: England v Barbarians match was my first test but it wasn’t a capped International as they’re not capped games, so my first full International was out in Calgary in 2017 with Georgia against Canada. I will never forget it. We arrived the day before to about 28 degrees, a lovely day in Calgary, but the next day the temperature went through the floor with wind chill in the minuses! It was that cold that one of the players had to go to hospital with hypothermia and we had to have a hot shower at half time just to warm up. My first Tier one International was the following year – Argentina v Wales.
Favourite stadium to ref in? For me personally I’d lean towards the likes of Clermont, Marcel Michelin stadium or the Stade Mayol in Toulon, even la Rochelle when I did la Rochelle v Gloucester in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup a few years ago. The atmosphere in those places is electric which always lifts the intensity of those matches in Europe and so they are very special games to be involved in.
Who is your sporting hero? Joost van der Westhuizen was always the player I admired growing up, as a scrum half myself I related a lot to the way he played but Paul O’Connell would be up there for me. Just seeing what he achieved and gave to the game. A guy who was just so ferocious on the field and his will to win would rise to any occasion, yet the moment the final whistle went, he’d almost be a different person who would be the first to give up time to help you out.