For Irishman David McHugh the Romanian capital Bucharest is a
special place.
It was here in 1994 that McHugh, in Romania as the IRB's
Tournament Referee Manager, made his international debut,
refereeing the test between Romania and Wales as part of qualifying
for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
"It was nearly as hot as it was during the last week in
Bucharest and the match was keenly fought by both teams,"
recalled McHugh.
"This is my fourth year of IRB Nations Cup in Romania
and I have to say that the tournament has gone from strength to
strength and has become a significant part of the of the IRB
referees' pathway.
"The tournament is impeccably organised by the Romanian
Federation, offering the local officials what has become a regular
opportunity to see how referees perform at the highest levels - how
they train, what diets they use, how they prepare."
Proven pathway
Bucharest is where several top referees and touch judges started
out in their international careers, the likes of Romain Poite of
France, Peter Fitzgibbon of Ireland, Carlo Damasco of Italy to name
just a few.
Last year John Lacey of Ireland and England's JP Doyle
passed through the proven nursery and in 2007 there were Francisco
Pastrana - all three currently with Paddy O'Brien at the Junior
World Championship in Argentina.
"This year we have a mixture of very experienced
referees with the likes of Marius Jonker of South Africa and up and
coming talents like Aruna Ranaweera of USA, Canada's Bryan
Arciero, Scot Neil Patterson, James Jones of Wales.
"Also I am pleased to see Andrew McPherson returning to
the Nations Cup, having refereed in the first ever Tournament in
Lisbon."
South African Test referee Marius Jonker said: "Nations Cup
2010 is my first involvement with this tournament and I did not
know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised and we have a great
team of management and referees on tour. It has been fun and
experiences like this always reminds me how blessed I am."
The tournament is definitely like a high performance unit in
that it is providing a natural progression from High Performance
Domestic Leagues like the Magners league and Cross Border
competitions to the IRB Pathway and beyond.
"I also have to commend the tremendous support we've
received from the Romanian Referee Manager, Emil Pirtoc, and his
top men Vlad Iordacchescu, Horatiu Bargaunas, Danut Frasineanu and
Gabriel Seitan," added McHugh.