https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-rugby-refereeing-part-one-richard-every

Remember that book, “Laws of The Game, Rugby Union”? Well, Law 6.A.4 (a) states: “The referee is the sole judge of fact and of Law. The referee must apply fairly all the laws.”

The key word is “fairly”. That Law makes it essential to provide match officials development, support and opportunity to be successful and to achieve greater consistency and accountability, delivering an exciting, fast-paced and probably a high-scoring product. The referee’s ultimate goal is to provide a fair environment so teams can compete with integrity and on a level playing field.

To achieve that goal we look at a two-pronged approach, TACTICAL and STRATEGICAL. This is a philosophy, and not about technical proficiencies required by all referees. It goes without saying that you need to know the laws and be able to identify them in practice.