Level 2 Officiating

Officials Level 2 - Developing officiating skills

The IRB Level 2 Officiating course is designed to provide referees with the skills needed to
referee age grade and senior matches in the club or school environment in major unions and to
higher levels in less developed unions.

The IRB Level 2 Officiating course aims to develop match officials who have already collected
some refereeing experience on their way. The course is delivered using the following structure:

• Firstly, it uses elements from the IRB Coaching resource to enhance the game knowledge of
match officials and to give an overview of the game
• Secondly, it uses three different modules to explain, demonstrate, practise, perform and analyse
officiating skills. These modules are:
- Management
- Planning
- Technical
• Thirdly, these modules are underpinned by generic modules covering fitness and the Laws of
the game.

Prerequisite: Participants have at least refereed one season in their domestic competition.

Duration: 16 hours

Assessment: Participants must attend and participate in all modules; achievement of satisfactory
practical assessment across a range of on and off field criteria; achievement of 80% in open book
Law test; submission of a 12 game officiating diary.

Course outline: The purpose of this course is to enable officials to develop skills to officiate safe,
enjoyable competition.

Course details: The course focuses on the following aspects of the game:
• The principles of rugby
• Skills and safety
• The game we referee
• Refereeing principles
• Communication
• Planning a season
• Identifying feedback
• Referee support
• Mental preparation
• General aspects of law knowledge
• Touch judging/Assistant Refereeing
• Foul play
• Advantage
• Open play
• The scrum
• The line-out
• The tackle
• Ruck and maul
• Risk management and ethics
• Fitness
• Laws
• The IRB Charter

Course Numbers: There is no minimum number required for this course to be run. However, the Level 2 course
will be run by either the provincial or local referee societies to their members.

Accreditation: Participants who successfully complete the Level 2 course are accredited to officiate for an initial
period of up to four-years. All accreditation terminates on December 31 of the fourth year after
accreditation was obtained.

Recertification: Participants who successfully complete the Level 2 course are eligible for re-accreditation as a
Level 2 match official by having been an active match official and by addressing certain reaccreditation
expectations monitored by their referee society. There are four components to the
re-accreditation process, as follows:

• an activity component involving participation as a Referee, Assistant Referee and/or

Referee Coach for a minimum of 4 hours of refereeing per year to remain at a Society
level

• an in-service development component that requires attendance and participation at

Referee clinics, conferences, seminars, workshops and/or development meetings at a
minimum of 4 hours per year on continued referee education to remain at a Society level

• successful completion of updated Law examinations on a once every two years basis,
with a 80% pass mark, to remain at a Society level; plus,

• successful completion of a fitness component on a once every two years basis, in order to
remain certified at a Society level as follows - Beep test level 7 or 2400m run <
12:30mins and 40 Metre Sprint < 6.25secs.

It is expected that Level 2 accredited match officials will be registered with Rugby Canada
during some, or all, of the accreditation period but definitely during the last year of the four-year
period.