LONG READ Andrea Piardi: 'We knew Australia wouldn't be happy, but I believed in that Jac Morgan decision'

“Sacrifice, opportunity and enjoyment.”

This is Andrea Piardi’s three-word definition of what it means to be a match official, with the Italian referee explaining his mindset.

“You will have to sacrifice a lot, so it is important to embrace every single opportunity and enjoy what’s happening around you.”

The 33-year-old, who started his rugby journey as a player, is now a staple of the officiating scene having become the first Italian to referee in the Six Nations, Rugby Championship and British and Irish Lions series.

But before we move on to that Godzilla-sized decision in the second Test Down Under, let us begin with Piardi’s refereeing origins. He first picked up the whistle some 16 years ago. He was captain of local club Brescia when an ACL injury took him out of the game and Gianluca Gnecchi, a team-mate and fellow elite official, encouraged him to get qualified.

This was no natural transition. By Piardi’s own admission, he maintained a tempestuous relationship with match officials.

“I think my lack of understanding of the laws led me to spend so much time arguing with them,” he reflects. “Once I learned it, I understood better their roles and importance to the sport.”

It is tough, I can’t lie, as I lost some important people due to those sacrifices. But with work, patience and passion, you will find the right balance, as I did.

In 2012, Piardi decided to call it a day as a player to fully focus on refereeing. His ascent was swift, taking charge of his first Serie A Elite game – the highest level of rugby in Italy before the URC – within just four years.

“It was a game between Rovigo and Valorugby Emilia. It feels like ages ago, and I can’t recall the game in detail, but I remember how I felt. I was really young – 24 at the time – and to arrive at that level at such a young age, it was important for what came after.”

But to achieve such success, Piardi had to endure the consequences of not being as present in the lives of the people he loved most. He recalls the long hours of training alone, or reviewing games to understand how he could improve, making the match fairer and more enjoyable for all. There could be no shortcuts.

“You need to sacrifice a lot of things in your life to keep progressing. Most of the time, we are far from home, and you need to find the right balance. I always enjoyed officiating, and I continued to push even when it meant making many sacrifices. My dream was to reach the Six Nations, and I couldn’t stop before achieving it.

“It is something that needs to come from within you. There isn’t someone there teaching how to eat, workout. You have to be your own motivator.

“It is tough, I can’t lie, as I lost some important people due to those sacrifices. But with work, patience and passion, you will find the right balance, as I did. My mantra was ‘you are doing the right thing for you and your family’. If you believe in what you are doing, you will have a better chance of reaching the destination that you have always dreamed about.”

After debuting in the URC, he was selected as an assistant referee for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. His Six Nations dream became reality just a few months later.

“As I had been involved in the World Cup, I was expecting one day I would get involved in the Six Nations. I worked hard to arrive at this point with [former World Cup final referee and World Rugby match official consultant] Alain Rolland and my union, and that appointment was like a recognition of what we had done for the past three years.”

In early February 2024, Piardi and his partner learned they were to become parents. Three weeks later, Piardi was selected as the match official for the Ireland v Wales clash, a day he can remember to its tiniest detail, especially because of how nerve-wracking it all was.

I remember saying to myself, ‘What is going on right now?’. Everything was really fast, and I felt that I wasn’t in control of myself.

“I was all over the place in the opening five minutes. I was shaking before blowing the whistle for kick-off, drenched in emotion. I was the first ever Italian to officiate a Six Nations game, so in the days before the game, I gave a few interviews, and I arrived at the game a bit tired.

“I remember saying to myself, ‘What is going on right now?’. Everything was really fast, and I felt that I wasn’t in control of myself. But then, I calmed down, and it went well. It was an unbelievable experience.”

Having scaled his Everest, Piardi never for a minute stopped progressing, learning and improving, as he was fully committed to offering players, staff, fans and himself the best version of the game.

His efforts were recognised, and in 2025, he was selected to take part in the iconic Lions tour and given the responsibility of officiating the second Test, which ended up deciding the whole series.

With Australia ahead and seconds from levelling the tour at one Test apiece, Jac Morgan sent Carlo Tizzano flying out the back of a ruck under the Wallabies posts. A phase later, Hugo Keenan scored in the corner and the Lions celebrated a series-winning try.

Piardi was in the eye of the storm. There were 90,000 baying supporters in the stands and millions more watching around the world. The stakes could scarcely be higher. He reviewed Morgan’s clearout, scrutinised the replays, knowing he was about to make the biggest call of the year. He found there has been no foul play.

“When I decided to rule the incident as a play on, I remembered something that I had learned in the past: you need to believe in the decision you are making. When it happened, I hadn’t even noticed it as I was focused on the ball.

“We made the decision together, me, Ben O’Keefe and Nika Amashukeli, to review the incident. We needed to deal with it. When you are under so much pressure, you need to trust yourself and to find the right balance.

“So, at that moment, it was just us three and the screen. There was nothing more. After a couple of replays, I decided not to deem it foul play. Our train of thought was: if the players were arriving at the same time, was the clearout illegal in itself? That’s why we arrived pretty fast at that outcome. Don’t confuse it with being a simple thing – it wasn’t.”

I enjoyed every single second of it. It was a privilege to be involved in such a match with a unique atmosphere.

As the Lions fans celebrated, the Wallabies supporters were enraged. Piardi’s decision was slated by pundits and ex-players. StanSport’s Morgan Turinui was particularly vocal. Piardi has always stuck to his guns.

“I was happy with my performance, how the game went and how we handled it. My team supported me in that decision, and I remained calm. You have to be, because in a game of such magnitude, you can’t let pressure get the best of you. We understood that Australia weren’t going to be happy, that it would be controversial. But again, I was happy with it as I believed in that decision.”

Even now, with the places he’s been and the rugby he’s refereed, the mayhem in Melbourne remains his favourite match.

“I enjoyed every single second of it. It was a privilege to be involved in such a match with a unique atmosphere.”

Some might think, under such pressure, refereeing is something only a madman would do. Piardi thinks otherwise: being a referee became a calling he learned to understand and embrace. He remembers the day he told his parents about wanting to take up the whistle.

“My mother always supported me, even if she wasn’t a rugby fan. But my father was like ‘Really? You want to be a referee?’ and now he is a huge fan of my work. He is one of my biggest supporters and is always there in the stands cheering for me.”

Aside from the stressful, match-defining moments and the unending cascade of learnings and improvements, Piardi explains it is also important to enjoy more fun instances, as happened to him in 2022.

“It was in a Champions Cup match between Bath and Leinster, and I got in the middle of a tackle. I had to stop the game as I took quite the hit, and I remember saying, ‘HIA for the ref’. It was a funny moment with the players laughing as well.

Far less amusing was Piardi’s quadriceps injury which forced him to abdicate midway through the England-Ireland match last month. He expects to make a full recovery by the end of April. As he reflects on his career, he shares two crucial bits of advice for those who want to follow in his footsteps.

“First of all, you need to enjoy. If you don’t, do something else. To be a referee is to have a different perspective of the rugby pitch, so you need to enjoy it. My second piece of advice is to learn as much as you can. Rewatch your games, ask the clubs for the video and ask yourself if you like the way you are moving. Get better with every new game.”