In an email, Giles said all scheduled round-robin fixtures this weekend will be recorded as matches not played, with both teams to receive three competition points.<\/p>\n
The under-85kg final has been rescheduled for July 18, while premier and premier two playoff matches are still being worked through, with further details to come.<\/p>\n
College rugby is largely unaffected, with no play scheduled this weekend.<\/p>\n
Giles said the union would meet the referees\u2019 association tonight to discuss ways to better support officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll scheduled round robin fixtures will be recorded as a match not played, so teams will receive competition points aligned together, which in and of itself will determine outcome for playoffs,\u201d Giles told Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be some clubs scratching their head kind of going, we\u2019ve missed an opportunity and might not make playoffs and others will get through.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to reschedule some of the games in our other grades. College rugby didn\u2019t have fixtures scheduled for this weekend during school holidays, but effectively there will be a complete round not played. We will not be making make-up games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club finals will continue on July 25 We do only have two weekends of rugby left, so one of those have now been scrapped out.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, WRRA president and chairman Ben van Berkel said the number of reported cases has jumped significantly from last year, and all were verbal.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously we want everyone to support referees and it\u2019s not so much just referees, it\u2019s if anyone walks past a behaviour they don\u2019t like, they should be doing something about it,\u201d van Berkel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the people for stepping up and supporting the referees, but yeah, there\u2019s a lot of work to be done obviously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we want to make sure that we were actually reporting everything. So that\u2019s one of the reasons why we\u2019re at 19. I think we were at six or seven last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are 67 active referees under the WRRA.<\/p>\n
All Blacks prop Xavier Numia, who plays for Wellington also backed the WRRA for their stance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not what you want as a referee to be abused,\u201c Numia said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good lesson to everyone out there to protect and look after our referees. Hopefully we get a better outcome with people treating our referees.\u201d<\/p>\n
It follows in the footsteps of the Horowhenua-K\u0101piti Rugby Union, which in June past year, postponed all their matches<\/a> after an increase of abuse, highlighted by a person threatening to stab a referee.<\/p>\n