NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport / Rugby

Paul Honiss hangs up his boots

Herald online
11 Jul, 2008 01:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Paul Honiss

Paul Honiss

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

KEY POINTS:

The New Zealand Rugby Union today paid tribute to referee Paul Honiss, who has announced his retirement from all refereeing after a professional career that has spanned 11 years.

45-year-old Honiss made history in 2007 when he became world rugby's most capped Test referee, surpassing Welshman Derek Bevan's
record of 44 Tests, and retires with 46 Test appearances. Honiss' last Test was the game between Australia and France last weekend.

In all, Honiss refereed in 211 first class matches, including 49 Super 14 fixtures and 71 Air New Zealand Cup games. He also refereed in three IRB Rugby World Cup tournaments in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Honiss started his international career in 1997 when he refereed the international between Tahiti and the Cook Islands. At provincial level he started and finished his career in Waikato but over the years was also a representative referee for Canterbury, Southland and Taranaki.

In 2005 and 2006 Honiss was named New Zealand Referee of the Year.

His career has not been without controversy - although, some may say, what rugby referee's hasn't? (Although you'd be hard pressed to find too many Paddy O'Brien gaffes.)

Here's a list of some of the moments when the ref has found himself just where he shouldn't be - in the spotlight:

* World Cup, 2007.
Honiss' shocker of a decision to disallow Samoan second-rower Joe Tekori's try against the Springboks not only penalises the gallant Pacific Islanders, but leads directly to a South Africa try when the Boks take a quick tap while Samoa captain Semi Sititi and others are remonstrating with the ref about the call. The match, which was heading towards a potential thriller, now turns into a blowout to South Africa on the basis of that 14-point swing.

For this, and several other questionable first-half decisions, Honiss' performance is labelled "one of the worst-refereed matches in history." Samoa coach Michael Jones doesn't go quite that far, but expresses 'disappointment'. A debate follows about prejudice among officials when one of the smaller "minnow" nations is up against one of the major test-playing nations.

* England v Wales, Six Nations, 2005
Honiss awards Matt Dawson a late try during England's 47-13 win over Wales at Twickenham, despite television replays showing the scrum half clearly knocked the ball forward out of a Welshman's hands. (This is before the age of the "video ref".) In the same match, Lawrence Dallaglio picks the ball up from a scrum only to find Honiss standing in front of him, barring the path of Stephen Jones, the intended tackler. By the time Honiss was out of the way, Dallaglio was in his scoring dive, reducing Jones to apoplexy.

* South Africa v Ireland, Lansdowne Rd, 2004.
In what was almost an exact reversal of the above incident, this time the Boks get the short end of the stick from Honiss as he makes a decision to award the Irish a try while the Boks captain, John Smit, was obeying the referee's own instruction to warn his players about repeated infringements. While Smit's back was turned, Irish fly-half Ronan O'Gara took a quick tap and ran in for a five pointer. It was the game's only try - the Irish went on to win 17-12.

* World Cup, Sydney, 2003
Honiss was in charge of the World Cup opener between Argentina and Australia when his refusal to allow the Pumas to scrummage aggressively allowed the hosts a much more comfortable evening than their play merited. Australia wins 24-8.

* Otago v North Harbour, NPC, Carisbrook, 2001
In an extraordinary match, Honiss is a major contributor to the locals' tense 39-37 victory when he awards not one but THREE penalty tries (two to the victors) in the last 20 mins of the game, setting the scene for a Brendan Laney penalty to win it for the blue-and-golds in injury time.

- NZHERALD STAFF

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rugby

All BlacksUpdated

Four debutants as Scott Robertson names first All Blacks team of 2025

02 Jul 11:34 PM
Black Ferns

'Ramp up the competition': Black Ferns face trial as World Cup hopes reach 11th hour

02 Jul 11:06 PM
All Blacks

All Blacks v France: All you need to know

02 Jul 07:32 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rugby

Four debutants as Scott Robertson names first All Blacks team of 2025

Four debutants as Scott Robertson names first All Blacks team of 2025

02 Jul 11:34 PM

Scott Robertson's side begin their season on Saturday night.

'Ramp up the competition': Black Ferns face trial as World Cup hopes reach 11th hour

'Ramp up the competition': Black Ferns face trial as World Cup hopes reach 11th hour

02 Jul 11:06 PM
All Blacks v France: All you need to know

All Blacks v France: All you need to know

02 Jul 07:32 PM
Premium
How Robertson plans to tackle year two with the All Blacks

How Robertson plans to tackle year two with the All Blacks

02 Jul 06:01 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP