S14: Ref injured and out

Stuart Dickinson is injured and has had to withdraw from the Super 14 match between the Cheetahs and the Highlanders in Bloemfontein. His place is taken by Pro Legoete of South Africa.

The change has also meant that Andrew Lees of Australia will no longer be an assistant referee, his place taken by Cobus Wessels while Craig Joubert, who is refereeing at Newlands the night before, will take the place of Stu Berry as an assistant referee.

Always a bridesmaid but never a bride; always and assistant referee but never a referee. For the second week in a row this has proved not to be the case for Pro Legoete (pictured, above) of the Golden Lions, the 19th time he had been assistant referee in a Super Rugby match.

Last weekend he was an assistant referee in Durban when the Sharks played the Cheetahs and replaced Jonathan Kaplan at half-time when a virus stopped Kaplan's performance. The transition from Kaplan to Legoete was a smooth one and the match proceeded without problems, in fact with a calm, confident performance by the man refereeing a Super Rugby match for the first time.

This will be Legoete's first appointment to a Super 14 match, not that he is a stranger to refereeing in Super 14 as he has regularly been an assistant referee at such matches, in South Africa and in Australasia. and he has three Tests on his CV.

Legoete, whose first name is really Lesego, became South Africa's 63rd Test referee in 2008 when he refereed a Test between Romania and Uruguay in Bucharest. Last year he did his fourth Test, appointed by the International Rugby Board to a World Cup qualifier between Uganda and Kenya.

Born and bred in Johannesburg on 19 October 1976 Legoete went to Mondeor High School in the south of Johannesburg before going on to Rand Afrikaans University, now part of the University of Johannesburg. Always a keen sportsman his fellows nicknamed him Pro. At RAU he played fullback, centre and flyhalf for the university's 1st XV and represented South Africa at the 1996 Students' World Cup.

For a while he worked for the United Cricket Board, but is now a student advisor at the University.

In 2001, aged 25, he joined the Golden Lions Referees' Society where he has made steady progress, currently one of the top six referees in South Africa.




(c) Gallo
Marius Jonker is having a busy time as the questions keep coming in as he prepares for Saturday's match in Johannesburg between the Lions and the Chiefs.

READ THE LATEST HERE!

Have you ever seen a Super 14 match like the one in Johannesburg? Mind you, have you ever seen any match like it? A team scored 65 and loses! It looks like a misprint. We give some statistics for the Week 2 matches.
READ THE LATEST HERE!

(c) Gallo
Stuart Dickinson is injured and has had to withdraw from the Super 14 match between the Cheetahs and the Highlanders in Bloemfontein. His place is taken by Pro Legoete of South Africa.
READ THE LATEST HERE!

Johny Stavrinou will referee his third Test this Saturday when Greece play Finland in FIRA-AER's Division 3. It's a long way from Durban for this Cypriot.
READ THE LATEST HERE!

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