RateTheRef

Officials tba

10/4 La Rochelle v Sale
10/4 Exeter v Leinster
11/4 Bordeaux v Racing
11/4 Clermont v Toulouse
9/4 Bath v London Irish
10/4 Leicester v Newcastle
10/4 Northampton v Ulster
10/4 Montpelier v Benetton

Jutge has a wealth of talent to pick from when it comes to the SFs & Fs. It'll be interesting to see whether he/his selectors go with the referees in form (like rugby league meaning there's no reason not to appoint the same referee to the same side in consecutive games) &/or if neutrality is followed regardless. With some high-scoring (only a couple too one-sided) Ro16 games, plenty of similar action to anticipate in the QFs.

Yep agreed Europe has incredibly talented officials coming through and more to come with the likes of Maxwell-Keys, Ridley, Grove- White, Busby, Blain, Ruiz, Amashukel, Piardi, Whitehouse & Evans. I would expect Barnes, Poite & probably Gauzere to retire after the next World Cup with plenty ready to take up the mantle.
I would expect to See Barnes in the semis/finals though!!

La Rochelle v Sale: Brace; Brousset + Charabas ; MacNeice
Exeter v Leinster: Raynal; Ridley + Dix ; Bonhoure
Bordeaux v Racing: Carley; Trainini + Marchat ; Tempest
Clermont v Toulouse: Pearce; Cayre + Dufort ; Foley

Bath v London Irish: Murphy; Woodthorpe + Watters ; Whitehouse
Leicester v Newcastle: Poite; Barnes + Maxwell-Keys; Grenouillet
Northampton v Ulster: Ruiz; Makepeace + Healy ; Dellac
Montpelier v Benetton: Dickson; Chalon + Cardona ; Fisher

With Sale and Exeter out today's games in France could be seen as auditions for Carley and Pearce to see which is ready for Semi or even Final (although I think Barnes looks a shoe in for that honour)

Mathieu Raynal, in general, was very good. Allowed competition at the breakdown to start with but rewarded the "jackler" more often than the Prem refs do. He was consistent.
However, his reading of high/dangerous tackles was poor. Exeter should have picked up 2 yellow cards. Jonny Hill definitely makes head contact with 2nd arm, mitigated by hitting into opponents shoulder first and Kirsten's flailing arm should have seen at least yellow. These need reviewing by EPCR. Leinster showed why they are 4 time champions, stepped up pace and intensity at key moments.