Macpherson taking the next step

OUT OF ACTION: A snowboarding accident has sidelined Poverty Bay referee Damien Macpherson until next season. Macpherson, who is in the New Zealand Rugby high performance referees squad, suffered a broken leg the day after officiating his second Heartland Championship match.Picture by Liam Clayton

Former Poverty Bay and Ngatapa flanker Damian Macpherson takes another step towards his goal of becoming a top-level match official when he referees his first Heartland Championship game tomorrow.

Macpherson will be the man in the middle of the Thames Valley-West Coast match at Te Aroha.

The 32-year-old Macpherson, who started refereeing in 2015, is in a 15-strong national referees squad. Only two are from Heartland unions; the other is Rebecca Mahoney from Wairarapa Bush.

Poverty Bay Rugby Football Union chief executive Josh Willoughby, a teammate of Macpherson when Poverty Bay played Auckland in a Ranfurly Shield challenge in 2008, was at a New Zealand rugby referees education conference this week and spoke to New Zealand referees’ manager Bryce Lawrence.

“He said Damian was a real shining light, who showed great commitment and had great game awareness.

“He also said Damian was the fittest in the national squad. I joked with him that Damian just comes straight from the hills on his farm to smash the fitness tests.

“I’m sure he’ll have a fantastic experience and a great game.

“It’s a credit to the Poverty Bay Referees Association for the support and development of Damian, especially to his coach Hamish Campbell.

“If anyone is keen on becoming a referee, they can contact the union.”

Macpherson, a farmer who is also a qualified plumber and gas fitter, said he didn’t like talking about goals but admitted he had it “in mind” to referee at the top level one day.

“From officiating a Heartland game, the next step would be a Mitre 10 Cup game, but I’m taking it one step at a time,” he said.

Should Macpherson make it all the way to the top he would be following in the footsteps of Nick Briant, who played cricket and rugby in Gisborne before moving to the Bay of Plenty.

Briant, who is in charge of tomorrow’s Heartland game between Poverty Bay and Wairarapa Bush, has performed at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, two Commonwealth Games and the HSBC Sevens World Series. He made his Super Rugby debut in 2013, and in 2014 refereed a match between Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Briant has been an assistant referee in the Six Nations Championship and in November 2017 he refereed the match between Japan and Australia in Yokohama. He is expected to pass the 50-game mark in Super Rugby in 2019.