During Munster’s Heineken Cup game against Racing Metro in 2013, Ian Keatley launched a kick and the ball hit Wayne Barnes smack in the face.
“The ball travels about 35 metres after hitting my face, showing how hard it hit me,” says Barnes. “
My touchjudge, JP Doyle, ran on laughing at me! If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to bring every fan together, it’s the referee getting hit. They’ll all cheer, whether you’re in the middle of the Millennium Stadium or at Old Deer Park.”
Top 10 All-Time Best Rugby Referees in History
With the Rugby World Cup kicking off in a little over a year away, the pressure is beginning to build on players to do enough to get called up to their national team.
But what about the referees and the mounting heat on rugby’s whistle-blowers to get things spot-on every time?
With referees and their decisions crucial in all forms of the game, RUCK brings you the top-10 all-time whistleblowers to have officiated at the global extravaganza taking in longevity at the top and the high-profile games given to them.
Here are the best rugby referees in history (according to us).
10. Wayne Barnes (England)
For a number of years now, he has been an under-appreciated referee. However since emerging onto the international circuit in 2006, Barnes has become one of the most consistent match officials in the game.
Possessing a strong character, Barnes had the courage to send off Dylan Hartley during the 2013 Premiership final, and is not willing to accept negativity from players posturing for penalties. The manner in which he dealt with Fourie du Preez during South Africa’s World Cup quarter final win was a particular highlight, with Barnes telling the mouthy scrum half to stop talking and play the game.
He'll hang up his whistle following the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
9. Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Spent 17 years at the top of the international game taking in the 2003, ‘07 and ‘11 World Cups before retiring in 2013.
His final test match as a referee was on 16 November 2013 when he took charge of the Namibia v Kenya match in the final fixture of the 2013 Namibian Tri-Nations in Windhoek.
8. Paddy O’Brien (New Zealand)
The former head of the IRB’s referee board got the 1999 World Cup in Cardiff underway taking charge of Wales’ no-holds-barred opener against Argentina.
In 2003 the former full-back was referee for the Australia-Ireland Pool game before taking charge of England’s semi-final victory over Six Nations rivals France.
In 2005 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of services to rugby as a referee in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
7. Stephen Hilditch (Ireland)
The former school headmaster started out refereeing Romania’s 21-20 win over Zimbabwe in the inaugural 1987 World Cup tournament at Eden Park and had Scotland’s 55-28 victory over the eastern Europeans later on.
He became prominent in 1991, officiating the Scots again in their third-place play-off defeat against the All Blacks and then four years later took charge of the Jonah Lomu-inspired New Zealand semi-final win over England.
6. Alain Rolland (Ireland)
The three-times capped Irish scrum-half will always be remembered for his red carding of skipper Sam Warburton in Wales’ heartbreaking 2011 semi-final defeat to France.
He refereed the final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and was an assistant referee in the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup before hanging up his whistle in 2013.
In March 2016 Alain was appointed as World Rugby's 'High Performance 15s Match Officials' Manager', having previously worked as a mortgage broker in Dublin.
5. Ed Morrison (England)
The Bristol referee took charge of 41 major Tests and officiated at three World Cups. He cut his teeth in the 1991 tournament with Scotland v Japan being his most high-profile game before coming to the fore in South Africa four years later.
He took charge of the Wales-New Zealand Pool game before taking on the France-Ireland quarter-final and then the most iconic World Cup final in history when the Springboks beat the All Blacks.
4. Derek Bevan (Wales)
The Clydach official spent 16 years at the top including taking charge of 11 World Cup games spanning four tournaments.
At club level, Bevan's career highlights include taking charge of the 1997 European Cup final between Brive and Leicester[7] and refereeing the Welsh Cup final on four occasions.
Since his retirement from refereeing, Bevan has worked as a Television Match Official (TMO) but retired in 2016. Outside of rugby, Bevan worked as a training officer for BP's chemicals division in Port Talbot.
3. Jim Fleming (Scotland)
Incredibly spent 18 seasons as an international referee and his World Cup CV takes in four tournaments between 1987-1999 (he and Derek Bevan are the only two referees to achieve this feat).
After a low-key start in ‘87 Fleming refereed England-New Zealand four years later plus the Ireland-Australia quarter-finals and Australia-New Zealand in the last four.
His big game in ‘95 was the South Africa-Samoa quarter-final while he was the man in the middle for the South Africa-England last eight clash in ‘99 as well as the France-New Zealand semi-final.
2. Andre Watson (South Africa)
The Stellenbosch University graduate remains the only man to referee two World Cup finals having overseen the Australia-France showdown at the Millennium Stadium in 1999 as well as England’s 2003 victory over Australia.
That year he also was the man in the middle for arguably one of the greatest games in World Cup history when Shane Williams burst onto the Test scene in that thrilling 53-37 defeat to the All Blacks in Sydney.
1. Nigel Owens (Wales)
Uniquely popular among players and supporters, Nigel Owens is known as much for his one liners as he is for his officiating.
The Welshman, who took charge of the 2015 Rugby World Cup final referees games in a positive manner, looking to keep the game flowing by being quick to penalise players who do not roll away or release.
Although some criticise him for becoming the centre of attention, Owens has built up a good relationship with players who respect him in turn.
In 2016, Owens became the most-capped rugby referee when he took charge of the Fiji-Tonga clash in Suva, overtaking Jonathan Kaplan's record of 70 tests.
