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Welsh Rugby Union outline plan for women's rugby in Wales
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Women's Six Nations officials confirmed with RWC places up for grabs
By Josh Raisey
The officiating team for the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations has been announced in what will be the final window of internationals for those hoping to make the 22-strong refereeing team for next year’s World Cup.
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A total of 29 officials from 14 nations will be involved in the Championship, with 13 referees taking charge of the 15 matches.
Zimbabwe’s Precious Pazani will become the first African referee outside of South Africa to referee a match in the Championship when she takes charge of England’s clash with Italy in York on March 23.
The refereeing team comprises Scotland’s Hollie Davidson, the USA’s Kat Roche, Zimbabwe’s Pazani, New Zealand’s Lauren Jenner, Natarsha Ganley and Maggie Cogger-Orr, Australia’s Ella Goldsmith and Amber McLachlan, England’s Holly Wood and Sara Cox, France’s Aurélie Groizeleau, South Africa’s Aimee Barrett-Theron and Italy’s Clara Munarini.
Goldsmith and Wood will be making their refereeing debuts in the tournament alongside Pazani, as will assistants Shanda Assmus (Canada), Jess Ling (Australia), Amelia Luciano (USA) and Zoe Naude (South Africa), and television match officials Oli Kellet (Australia) and Aaron Paterson (New Zealand).
The Championship begins with Ireland hosting France in Belfast on March 22, and will finish with England welcoming France at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium on April 26.
“2025 is a massive year for the women’s game with a record number of international fixtures, competitions and, of course, an era-defining Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025,” said chair of the women’s Emirates World Rugby match officials selection committee Su Carty.
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“This represents a generational moment for the women’s game, our players and fans. But, it also marks a step change for our women’s game match official structures. We are a year into embedding a new structure with talent development, specialist coaching and robust performance review, all geared towards widening the pool of international quality match officials. The appointments on the road to England 2025 reflect that mission. This is an exciting time for all.”
Women’s high performance referee manager Alhambra Nievas added: “For the first time, we will be able to appoint our match officials through to the Rugby World Cup warm-up matches. This is a result of our new structure and a reset way of working with competitions and teams. We are excited about the journey ahead of us in what will be the biggest-ever year for women’s Rugby.”
