Australians defend use of own referees

SYDNEY - Australian Rugby Union officials denied yesterday that they had broken a promise to use neutral referees in the lead-up matches of the upcoming British and Irish Lions tour.

The Lions are also unhappy that Southern Hemisphere referees will take charge of the three tests.

An ARU spokesman said that in every previous Lions tour, local referees had been used for the provincial matches and Australian referees were rated among the best in the world. Five were selected for the 1999 World Cup.

The Lions tour starts against Western Australian in Perth on June 8, where Australian Wayne Erickson will referee.

The other referees are: George Ayoub (Queensland President's XV), Stuart Dickinson (Queensland), Peter Marshall (New South Wales), Greg Hinton (NSW Country) and Scott Young (ACT). The Australia A match will be refereed by New Zealander Paul Honiss.

The referees for the three tests are Andre Watson and Jonathan Kaplan, of South Africa, and Paddy O'Brien, of New Zealand.