Richard Haughton targeting World Cup… as a referee!
Haughton, 34, failed to secure a new contract with Perpignan following the Catalan club’s relegation from the Top 14 last year but, rather than playing elsewhere, he opted to take a new direction which he hopes will lead to officiating at top Test level.
Ex-Saracens teammate Jackson quit playing in 2010 to pursue his refereeing ambitions and, after proving his worth in Super Rugby and subsequently in Tests, is scheduled to take charge of three Pool matches at the forthcoming Rugby World Cup.
Haughton, who next season will officiate in both England and France, plans to follow suit, telling TRP: “I’d been looking at things I’d like to do when I finished playing and refereeing emerged as a good option and it’s something I really enjoy doing.
“When it became clear that my time at Perpignan was over I had a chat with (RFU referees academy boss) Chris White and took the written test. I then started refereeing junior matches in France with Top 14 referee Mathieu Raynal as my mentor.
“It’s gone pretty well and next season I hope to referee in France’s Federale Three (level five), while I’ll also be travelling over to England once a month to have some referee training there and do games on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
“I’m not sure what level in England that would be to start with but by the end of next season I’d like to be doing Federale Two in France and level five (National Three) matches here, which would start to push me towards England’s national panel.”
Should Haughton progress as quickly as Jackson, he could find himself in contention for a call to international duty in time for the 2019 World Cup.
He explained: “The aspiration is to go to the top and progress as fast as possible, while respecting what other referees are doing. I don’t want to be pushed for what I did as a player but to be recognised because of what I do as a referee.
“I’ve had a few conversations with Glen and hope to catch up with him again during the World Cup. He did some refereeing before he packed up playing so he was ahead of me in that respect, but if I show the right qualities I’d expect to move on.”
Haughton admits he is still coming to terms with the scrum, but has called on the services of another old Saracens teammate to guide him through.
“Because of my career as a back three player I know what I want to see in tackle situations and I find those decisions quite easy, but I’m still getting to grips with the scrum,” he said.
“But I’ve been spending some time with Ben Broster, who’s still propping for Biarritz and has another year there, so he’s a useful guy to know.”
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