Former Black Fern Rebecca Mahoney and Natarsha Ganley have become the first women selected into New Zealand Rugby's high performance referees' national squad.
Young referees Lauren Jenner, Maggie Cogger–Orr, Brittany Andrew and Louise Moore have been selected in the wider training group alongside eight other match officials that will work towards the Jock Hobbs national under 19 tournament in Taupo in September 2018.
New Zealand Rugby's high performance referee manager Bryce Lawrence welcomed the inclusion of Mahoney and Ganley as a positive statement about women in refereeing.
"This is a fantastic day for refereeing and for women in refereeing. Rebecca and Natarsha are quality referees and will no doubt continue to improve in the high performance environment.
"We are determined to have the best match officials in the world who control elite level games. Having Rebecca and Natarsha in the National Squad will see us developing our top men and women officials together to achieve that goal," Lawrence said.
