[7's/10's] Reffing

[Arabcheif]

Ladies and Gents,


I've been appointed to my 1st 7s tournament. I've only ever played in 1 when I was 16 (26 years ago). Any advice for a newish ref and a rookie 7s ref?

Thanks

 

[smeagol]

First and foremost, have fun, and make it look like you're having fun.

Get to every breakdown/tackle, and don't tolerate defenders trying to slow down the ball.

Don't be too concerned with secondary signals, a good portion of the time you will not have time to make them.

Any screw-up at kick-off (not 10, out on the full, ball goes in-goal) is a free kick on the halfway.

At scrums, make sure that the props bind onto the hooker, and not each other. Also, kicking the ball *forward* out of the scrum is a penalty.

If the weather is going to be warm, grab a jar of pickles and some Pedialyte, and start drinking more water *now* to make sure you're hydrated. If not, you will cramp up.

 

[KoolFork]

Take a couple of jerseys. I had a pink one and one team turned up in Breast Cancer T-shirts

 

[Rich_NL]

smeagol makes good points - slowing the ball at all is pretty much a penalty straight off. Yellow cards are only 2 minutes off, so you see them more often, especially for anything like cynical play. And having fun is essential!

Running lines are different. There's less going on, but a lot more movement. Try to keep infield of the action and anticipate play - let the ball come toward you when you can so you can conserve your energy, because you'll burn enough keeping up with the game and sprinting after interceptions, turnovers and kicks.

And that's another point - even more so than in 15s you need to be switched on all the time. Quick taps, quick throw-ins, players are making the most of the 14 minutes they have - you don't want to stop or slow them at all and you still need to be in the 22 for a try

This is a good bullet-point overview, I thought:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHBRB7SNgNE

 

[Flish]

Don’t take your eyes off the ball after a try, they drop the goals quick, no relaxed wander back for you, kick often taken the ‘wrong way’ from in goal, so keep sharp

 

[smeagol]

Don’t take your eyes off the ball after a try, they drop the goals quick, no relaxed wander back for you, kick often taken the ‘wrong way’ from in goal, so keep sharp

Good point - check with the referee manager regarding this. The social tournaments I've refereed, this is allowed; for higher levels it is not, so it'll depend.

 

[Jolly Roger]

Check out this video on YouTube from World Rugby

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MaBJez1KrGA

Keep mobile between games and warm up before each match so you don’t pull a muscle that has tightened up following the previous game.
Take moulded studs or Astro boots if you have them as well as your usual boots as the ground may be hard.
Snacks such as cereal bars and bananas. Eat a little between each game and stay hydrated.

As a said previously, have fun and don’t worry if you make a mistake.

 

[Arabcheif]

Thanks for all the comments/advice.

@Coolfork - Regrettably, I've only had 1 season as a ref and only have 1 shirt (and we've not had this seasons allocation yet). However this is white. Hopefully there aren't teams that play in white. I may take a couple if different coloured T-shirts with me just incase.

 

[Jolly Roger]

Do that. Doesn't have to be a rugby shirt. A bright yellow / orange running shirt would be fine...unless it is the World 7s in which case that will issue you with them!

 

[Flish]

Do that. Doesn't have to be a rugby shirt. A bright yellow / orange running shirt would be fine...unless it is the World 7s in which case that will issue you with them!

Bibs exist too, just go without, I reffed in my base layer once after both teams tried to ‘help’ avoid the kit clash and ended up clashing with both the shirts I took

 

[Arabcheif]

@Jolly Roger - Nah it's the Dundee 7s

 

[smeagol]

Thanks for all the comments/advice.

@Coolfork - Regrettably, I've only had 1 season as a ref and only have 1 shirt (and we've not had this seasons allocation yet). However this is white. Hopefully there aren't teams that play in white. I may take a couple if different coloured T-shirts with me just incase.

Depending on your size, chances are other referees will have a shirt or three that you can borrow for a match.

 

[timmad]

Have fun, it can be quite tough but I've always found it enjoyable. Stiffening up in gaps between games can be as much of a problem as reffing consecutive games. Another problem is mismatches in early rounds: although the scoring team take the restart it can still mean a series of 50/60+ metre dashes - if you get inside the 22 when the try is scored that's OK.
Try to recruit other ('resting') refs to TJ for you and to take one end each for conversions. As with 15-a-side, firm but sympathetic works best.

 

[Arabcheif]

Thanks for all the comments. I think I did quite well. We had one of our Society Ref coaches and was very happy with how I reffed and said that I'd picked almost everything up. I missed a high tackle (which he said he felt was a RC). I wasn't sure as the only one I can think of was a tackle that, while high for bad technique but below the line of the shoulders (just), but was a stonking hard hit.

One of the coaches had a tiny bit of a go after (surprise, surprise) his team lost a match. His words were overheard by another Ref (who's also fairly senior in the society) and a ref abuse report has been submitted. I did ask the other ref who was there if he had any concerns with the match, he said no he and that he thought I did well too.

All in all it was a fairly positive experience. I was also the man in the middle for one of the ladies semis. Was due to AR in the Gents final but subbed out, as reffing the ladies semi and straight into ARing a gents semi was a bit too much for me old legs (with my 25 stone frame), at the end of the day.