Tony Spreadbury: I got it wrong… but give young refs a break

RFU referees supremo Tony Spreadbury candidly admits he may have got recent Aviva Premiership appointments wrong.
But the man charged with providing top-flight referees insists his development programmes are robust and says he still intends giving up-and-coming whistlers a chance – if they meet rigorous performance targets.
Spreadbury was lambasted by Sale boss Steve Diamond for appointing rookie Midlands ref Greg MacDonald to his side’s crucial game at London Irish a fortnight ago, which the top-six challengers controversially lost.
Spreadbury concedes Diamond was right, telling The Rugby Paper: “The referee at London Irish v Sale had a tough day. That’s down to me, I accept full responsibility in all appointments and we’ve fully supported Greg since.
“It’s important to get the selection right and on that day I probably didn’t. We want to develop referees and, like players, they have bad days. But we’ve reviewed it, he’ll be a better ref for it and he’ll come back stronger.”
Diamond’s blast followed ructions at Northampton v Wasps two weeks earlier, where 24-year-old ref Craig Maxwell-Keys was intimidated by senior Saints stars before dismissing Wasps No.8 Nathan Hughes for accidentally kicking George North in the head.
But Spreadbury defends the appointment, explaining: “Craig had performed really well in the Championship and U20s and deserved a game. You look at intensity and difficulty and in my view he was ready for the fast tempo.
Obviously the incident with the red card brought things to a head but we all make a judgment call and that’s packed away. But I was really pleased with his second half where he did not drop away after that big decision.
“I thought that showed massive character and we have to bring these guys through. We’ve had situations in the past when we’ve had just seven Premiership referees and there’s been no competition for games.
“But there is competition within the group now and Greg and Craig are certainly not precluded from the end of season run-in.”
Spreadbury insists the RFU’s elite refereeing programme is now among the best in the world. He added: “We stepped up our review system at the start of the season and all our referees now meet on Mondays and Tuesdays.
“We hold individual review sessions, group sessions, three separate strength and conditioning sessions and a Tuesday wrap.
“Appointments are not made until Monday, everything is done on performance and we intend to get more refs into the Premiership.
“The Championship has gone up a notch this year in terms of competitiveness and set-piece refereeing. It’s a great stepping stone now and we’re lucky to be able to develop refs for such a tough, physical Premiership.”
NEALE HARVEY