| Birth name | Paul Gerard Honiss | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 18 June 1963 | |||||||||||||
| School | St John's College | |||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Paul Gerard Honiss (born 18 June 1963) is a retired rugby union referee from Hamilton, New Zealand.
Honiss held the record of the most test matches refereed (46) when he retired as an international rugby union referee in July 2008. [1] That record has since been surpassed by Jonathan Kaplan. [2] He first started refereeing in 1984, making his international referee debut in a 1997 Rugby World Cup qualifier between Tahiti and the Cook Islands.
Honiss was subsequently selected to officiate at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales, and the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. He was also selected as a referee for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France.
During the 2007 World Cup Honiss equaled Welshman Derek Bevan's record for most Tests as a referee when he took charge of his 44th Test, a Pool D match between Argentina and Ireland on 30 September. He surpassed Bevan when he presided over the third-place match between Argentina and France on 19 October. [3]
His final match in charge was between Australia and France, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia, with the home team winning 40–10. [4]
A hockey and tennis court in Saint John's College of Hamilton, New Zealand is named after his father Paul Honiss, an old boy of the school's predecessor Marist Brothers High School.
Rugby World Cup Final referees | |
|---|---|
| Referees | |
| Assistant Referees |
|
| Television Match Officials |
|
 | This biographical article relating to New Zealand rugby union, about a person born in the 1960s, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for their international success, the All Blacks have often been regarded as one of the most successful sports teams in history.
The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks, is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerseys with white shorts. Their emblem is a native antelope, the Springbok, which is the national animal of South Africa. The team has been representing South African Rugby Union in international rugby union since 30 July 1891, when they played their first test match against a British Isles touring team. Currently, the Springboks are the number one ranked rugby team in the world and are the reigning World Champions, having won the World Cup on a record four occasions. Incredibly, the Springboks have won half of the Rugby World Cups they've attended. They are also the second nation to win the World Cup consecutively.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The France national rugby union team represents the French Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union matches. Colloquially known as Le XV de France, the team traditionally wears blue shirts with a Gallic rooster embroidered on the chest, white shorts and red socks in reference to the French national flag. Les Bleus mostly play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship along with England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. France have won the tournament on 26 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 10 times.
Richard Hugh McCaw is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He captained the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, in 110 out of his 148 test matches, and won two Rugby World Cups. He has won the World Rugby Player of the Year award a joint record three times and was the most capped test rugby player of all time from August 2015 to October 2020. McCaw was awarded World Rugby player of the decade (2011–2020) in 2021. McCaw is also a winner of the New Zealand sportsman of the decade award.
Steve Walsh is a retired professional rugby union referee from New Zealand. He officiated at international level from 1998 to 2014, and at three Rugby World Cups, including refereeing the semi-final between South Africa and Argentina in 2007. Walsh became the most experienced Super Rugby referee in 2014, passing Jonathan Kaplan's record before retiring from the game in 2015.
Jonathan Isaac Kaplan, is a former international rugby union referee who used to hold the record for the most international matches as referee.
Stuart Dickinson is an Australian former Rugby union referee. Dickinson has refereed in many rugby competitions, including the Rugby World Cup, Tri Nations, Six Nations, international friendlies, Super 12/14/15, and Shute Shield. He was a referee at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He is Australia's most-capped referee, and the only Australian referee to appear at three Rugby World Cups.
Nigel Owens, is a Welsh former international rugby union referee, who retired in December 2020 after a 17-year career. He previously held the world record for the most test matches refereed and is one of five international referees listed as professional within the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans, Adam Jones, Dan Jones and Ben Whitehouse. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest rugby referees of all time.
The knockout stage of the 2007 Rugby World Cup began on 6 October with a quarter-final between Australia and England and concluded on 20 October with the final, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, between England and South Africa, their second meeting in this tournament.
Patric Denis O'Brien, commonly known as Paddy O'Brien, is a New Zealand international rugby union referee, and former head of the International Rugby Board's Referee Board.
Wayne Barnes is a retired English international rugby union referee. He was a frequent referee in the English Premiership, and refereed games in the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. At international level, Barnes refereed matches at the Rugby World Cup, the Six Nations, the Rugby Championship and the Pacific Nations Cup competitions.
The 2008 end of year rugby tests, also known as the Autumn internationals saw Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, the Pacific Islanders and Canada tour the northern hemisphere. The tour ended with the traditional 'final challenge' Barbarians match, against Australia, which was the first rugby union Test at the new Wembley Stadium. New Zealand and Australia also contested a Bledisloe Cup match outside of either country for the first time; the match was played in Hong Kong with the hope of raising rugby's profile in China.
Bryce Lawrence is a former professional international rugby union referee from the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. He is now the National Referee Manager for the New Zealand Rugby Union.
The 2010 mid-year rugby union tests refers to the rugby union Internationals that were played from late May to late June, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere.
The 2010 end-of-year rugby union tests, also known as the Autumn internationals in the northern hemisphere, saw Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in a competitive tour of the northern hemisphere. Test matches were also arranged with the various Pacific island teams and other non-Tier 1 international sides. This period also marked the conclusion of the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying process, as well as the beginning of the European Nations Cup.
The 2010 Tri Nations Series was the 15th annual Tri Nations series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Jérôme Garcès is a French former international and professional rugby union referee who currently works as a discipline and refereeing advisor for the France national team.
Chris Pollock is a former rugby union referee who represented the New Zealand Rugby Union. In 2008, he was part of the IRB's touch judge panel. He made his international referee debut in 2005, when he refereed Niue vs Tahiti, while his first IRB appointment was in 2006, taking charge of Hong Kong vs Japan.
Mathieu Raynal is a professional rugby union referee. He officiates at the highest level in the Top 14, European club rugby, and is on the World Rugby referee panel. In 2013, he broke his two legs in two places after getting too close to the action.
