Connor to make history by officiating main match of the Craven Week
History will be made during the main match of the 58th edition of the Craven Week hosted at Outeniqua Park in George this Saturday. For the first time since the inaugural tournament back in 1964 an overseas referee will be officiating the main match.
The honour is bestowed to Ben Connor from Wales. He will be assisted by Hanru van Rooyen and Lulutho Matomela from the sidelines. Van Rooyen refereed the main match of last year’s tournament in Cape Town and would without a doubt play an important role in assisting Connor.
Western Province will face the Blue Bulls for the third consecutive time in the main match of the tournament.
Besides Connor another overseas referee Andrew Cole (Ireland) also officiated during the prestigious week. Tappe Henning, head of the URC’s match officials, was also in attendance to assess the referees’ performances.
Connor is the son of former Welsh sevens player, Shaun Connor, who represented the Ospreys is over a 100 matches at flyhalf. Connor sr. is currently part of the Welsh womens’ team coaching staff and also coached Russia’s national team’s backline earlier in his career.
