News24.com | Jake ‘looking forward’ to young Welsh ref in Parma despite Bulls’ whistle woes

Jake White for Bulls

• The Bulls aren’t wary of having to contend with a young foreign referee in their URC meeting with Zebre on Friday. 
• Instead, Jake White is looking forward to seeing his players adapt to an arbiter with different views as local teams have become “stagnant” just playing alongside SA refs.
• White also believes the Bulls now need to simply start fronting up to different referees if they are to make real progress in the tournament.

Jake White and his Bulls aren’t wary of having 28-year-old Welsh referee, Adam Jones, in charge of their United Rugby Championship meeting with Zebre in Parma on Friday night.

In fact, he’s actually keen to have his charges exposed to an overseas arbiter again following a host of local derbies that have been accompanied by, in general, the same group of local referees.

Jones has 14 URC matches under his belt to date. 

While South African teams have undoubtedly struggled to adapt to the interpretations of northern hemisphere officials to date, White argues that it’s currently preferable than to start