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.