KEY POINTS:
Paddy O'Brien is coming home - but he is not giving up his day job as the referees manager for the International Rugby Board.
Instead, he may put in a few night shifts to co-ordinate with his masters in the Northern Hemisphere headquarters in Dublin.
O'Brien took up the post last year but his young family have found it hard to settle.
After some negotiation, O'Brien has struck a deal to split his time between both hemispheres.
He intends returning to Invercargill after Christmas and will spend the first part of next year working from there.
"I love my job and am thankful I can hang on to it," said O'Brien, who was in Lyon yesterday checking the match officials and other details about the World Cup venue for next season.
O'Brien said he had a decent discussion with All Black coach Graham Henry and his beef about host teams getting a marked advantage in penalty counts.
"It was brought to my attention," O'Brien said.
"It has been a trend in the last 10 years, it is a statistic.
"It varies with teams but England apparently get a huge advantage at Twickenham."
O'Brien said he had regular contact with coaches such as Andy Robinson, Henry and Jake White and wanted to continue to build those relationships between coaches and referees.
