Australian official Steve Walsh will have the honour of refereeing the first game on the British & Irish Lions’ 125th anniversary tour against the Barbarians in Hong Kong on Saturday, 1 June.
The man in the middle when Wales beat England by a record margin to clinch the RBS 6 Nations title two weeks ago, Walsh has been in charge of the Lions before, refereeing the matches against the New Zealand Maori and Auckland on the 2005 tour to New Zealand.
He was also one of the touch judges in the win over Taranaki, a game in which he was reported for verbally abusing Lions wing Shane Horgan and was subsequently banned from international rugby for four months.
The Test matches will be controlled Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa) and Romain Poite (France). Only Joubert, who was in charge of the 74-10 win over the Golden Lions in 2009, has refereed the Lions before.
There will be a familiar face for a number of the Lions players involved in four of the midweek matches with New Zealand’s fast rising Glen Jackson taking charge of the matches against the Western Force and the Melbourne Rebels. He will also be on the touchline for the game against the Waratahs.
Jackson only quit his professional playing career after the 2010 Premiership Final at Twickenham when he was in the Saracens side that just lost out on the title to Leicester Tigers. He enjoyed six seasons at the Saracens playing at outside half and will have played with and against many of the Lions players in the Premiership and in Europe.
1 June 2013 – British & Irish Lions v Barbarians
Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Asst Refs: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Australia)
5 June 2013 – Western Force v British & Irish Lions
Patersons Stadium, Perth, Australia
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Asst Refs: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
TMO: NZ
8 June 2013 – Queensland Reds v British & Irish Lions
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Asst Refs: Jérôme Garces (France), Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)
TMO: NZ
11 June 2013 – Combined New South Wales and Queensland Country v British & Irish Lions
Hunter Stadium, Newcastle, Australia
Referee: ARU appointment
Asst Refs: ARU appointments
TMO: ARU
15 June 2013 – NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions
Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Asst Refs: Jérôme Garces, Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
TMO: NZ
18 June 2013 – ACT Brumbies v British & Irish Lions
Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)
Asst Refs: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
TMO: NZ
22 June 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Asst Refs: Craig Joubert, Romain Poite (France)
TMO: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
25 June 2013 – Melbourne Rebels v British & Irish Lions
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Asst Refs: Romain Poite (France), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
29 June 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
Etihad Stadium, Melbourne
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Asst Refs: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Romain Poite (France)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
6 July 2013 – Australia v British & Irish Lions
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Asst Refs: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Craig Joubert (South Africa)
TMO: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
