This week on the Bay of Plenty Referee Podcast, we’re joined by James Grieve from Auckland after a full interchange weekend in the Bay.

James took the whistle in the middle and then backed it up as an AR afterwards, so we chat about interchange weekends, what referees can learn from seeing a different province operate, and the value of getting outside your usual environment. We also get James’ perspective on refereeing in Auckland across club and school rugby, what’s working well, and what officials are seeing week to week.

We also round up a busy week of rugby and referee news, including:

- New Zealand Rugby and Touch NZ formally joining forces to recognise touch as the official non-contact summer form of rugby in Aotearoa

- South African prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye receiving an 18-month anti-doping ban

- Eddie Jones being suspended and docked pay after abusing match officials

- World Rugby’s new maul law application guideline coming into effect from 1 June

- The launch of Ultimate Sevens, a new global short-format sevens competition

News links:

Touch NZ / NZ Rugby partnership:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/595630/nz-rugby-and-touch-nz-join-forces-in-bid-to-increase-player-numbers

Asenathi Ntlabakanye ban:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/595283/asenathi-ntlabakanye-banned-for-18-months-and-is-set-to-miss-the-rugby-world-cup

Eddie Jones sanctioned for abusing officials:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360978553/eddie-jones-banned-japan-and-given-pay-cut-after-abusing

World Rugby maul guideline:

https://passport.world.rugby/laws-of-the-game/law-application-guidelines/maul-june-2026/

Ultimate Sevens:

https://ultimatesevens.com/

Thanks for listening. You can find the Bay of Plenty Referee Podcast on YouTube, Spotify and major podcast platforms.