Referee bosses are working hard to get officials to all matches, but sideline behaviour, especially at school games, needs to improve. Improvements need to be made at school games or referees may not front. Otago Rugby Referees Association chairman Chris Hart said clubs were backing an initiative to get premier players to referee lower level games. This weekend 44 games were scheduled and at the moment they were sitting on 35-38 referees available, which would mean two games for some referees. Referees in the Otago country area were working hard and many were travelling large distances to officiate in games.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 23, 2020 16:30 UTC