Neville To Take Charge Of World Cup Final

Former Munster and Ireland captain and current Munster Rugby referee of the year Joy Neville, has been appointed to referee the Women’s Rugby World Cup between New Zealand and England at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening.

Neville, who works as a Rugby Development Officer at LIT, has impressed across the tournament with her game management and positive interaction with players and will be assisted in the final by Graham Cooper (ARU) and Hollie Davidson (SRU).

A Grand Slam winner in 2013, Neville who won 70 caps for Ireland and played at the 2006 and 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cups.

Munster Referee of the Year
Winner Joy Neville presented by Bill Kavanagh, President, Munster Association of Referees
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Following her retirement from the game Neville took up refereeing and became the first woman to referee an Ulster Bank League Division 1a game and has risen through the ranks as part of the officiating teams for the PRO12 and European competitions.

Last March the Limerick woman refereed her first Women’s RBS 6 Nations game (Wales Women v Italy Women) and first men’s international (Wales U18s v England U18s).

She set down a marker in October 2016 when she became the first female assistant referee of a European fixture when she ran the line at the Bath v Bristol game in the Challenge Cup.

On the domestic scene, Neville regularly takes charge of Ulster Bank League matches and as a former Sevens player for Ireland during her 11-year career, refereed at the 2015 World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series qualifying tournament and last June’s Olympic Women’s Sevens Repechage, both at UCD, as well as the Women’s Rugby Super Series in Salt Lake City in July

On Friday evening Joy’s refereeing colleague Munster’s John Lacey is the man in the middle for the pre-season friendly between Leinster and Bath at Donnybrook while on Saturday morning Munster’s Andrew Brace is AR2 for the Rugby Championship fixture between New Zealand and Australia at the Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

On Saturday afternoon Munster’s George Clancy takes charge of the pre-season game between Connacht and Bristol at the Sportsground.