Adult Male Competition Aids

Adult Male

The content of this page is primarily for the use of members of the Ulster Society of Rugby Football Referees (USRFR: The Society).

This area relates to the administration and support for society members whilst involved in domestic Adult Male rugby. Ulster Rugby is striving to continue its growth in recent years were 1,577 male domestic adult games of rugby where played, giving approximately 2,365 man hours of refereeing to about 71,000 man hours of sport.

Competition Regulations

Adult Male Regs 25/26

The referee aid to competition regulations may be found here.

Governance for the 60 point score differential and the game management is clarified within the Comp Regs above and is repeated here. There is no time factor in the implementation of the directive. Reg 7.(h) Once a margin of 60 points between teams in a League or Cup fixture is reached, the match shall end. Where, in such circumstances, a match is ended early, teams are encouraged to play out the remaining time as a friendly, but no further points scored by either team shall be counted in the result.

For the new Club Academy Cup competition please review the Rules and Guidelines for the Club Academy Competition 2021/22 here.

If, at the end of full-time in the Club Academy Cup, scores are tied, the winner will be determined by applying the following criteria in the order set out below:

The most tries scored in the game;
The first try scored in the game;
The first score in the game
The toss of a coin.

There will be no extra time and no replays.

Squad of 22 using the u19 law variation.

Male competition rules & regs for Student Sport Ireland may be found here

Club Locations & Contacts

Club Locations

Club locations may be found using the link from your selection on Sportlomo by clicking the ‘I’ (information) icon.

Club Contacts

Members are reminded of best practice to reach out to your hosts prior to travel.

You may find useful contact numbers linked to the "info" icon at the end of your assignment on Sportlumo desktop version.

For Society members, 29th August our Hon Sec transmitted the latest available contact details for schools and clubs within compliance to GDPR. Protocol would dictate that your host reaches out to you prior to your fixture. However, we offer these contacts as a back up to ensure the fixture is live before you travel. Refer to the Email for more details.

You may also access numbers via the Branch admin team.

Discipline

Yellow card incidents (single card events) are no longer recorded at Branch and the match official takes no further action. A red card action following two YC incidents with the same player is still to be reported.

Red card report advice may be viewed in the wider discipline section of this website.

Health & Safety

There is NO Head Injury Assessment (HIA) in domestic rugby.

For guidance in suspected concussion management of a player, view the IRFU Concussion Guide.

The role of the match official in the application and administration of “Recognise & Remove” is vital in the protection of player safety. The role of the referee in this process is to be aware of the signs and symptoms of concussion, ensure players exhibiting those signs and symptoms are removed from the field of play, and report any incidents.

Effective November 2025, any significant injury, especially including Recognise and Remove incidents, must be reported through the ‘Game Incident’ option in the Game Management section of the SportLomo App. Significant injury may be characterised as injuries that involve formal medical attention, ambulance or hospitalisation.

A short video tutorial on how to use this feature is available here.

Any queries thereafter will be handled by the designated personnel in the IRFU Medical Department or Provincial Branch Office.

Should you have any queries please get in touch with the Referee Development Manager in your province.

50:22, In Goal Drop Out

Global law trials around the 50:22, and ‘in goal drop out’ may be found here.

Guidance around Tackle height changes may be found here.

Guidance around the introduction of law changes around no scrum at FK, Croc roll clear outs and offside in front of kick. May be found here and here and here.

Guidance on law adjustments for the 25/26 season may be found here.