Nic Berry
Nic Berry (born 13 March 1984 in Brisbane) is an Australian rugby union referee and a former professional player. He took up refereeing after being forced to retire from playing in 2012 due to a series of concussions. After taking up the whistle he has become one of the few former Super Rugby players to also have refereed a match in Super Rugby.
| Birth name | Nicholas Berry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 13 March 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Brisbane, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 80 kg (12 st 8 lb; 176 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Teacher | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
Berry was educated at Ipswich Grammar School in Queensland. He represented Australia at rugby union in the under-21 national team at the under-21 World Cup in Argentina. He made his Super 12 debut for the Queensland Reds against the Hurricanes in 2005. He started four games in 2005, and played another five off the bench. He made his run-on debut at halfback replacing the injured Josh Valentine in a match against the Bulls. In 2006 Berry was selected in the Australian Prime Ministers XV to take on the Japanese national team in Tokyo on 4 November. He was also part of the Sunnybank team that won the 2005 and 2007 Queensland Premier Rugby trophy.
In July 2007, it was rumoured that Berry was looking at offers from overseas and requesting a release from S14 and ARC commitments. He then left the Queensland Reds and moved to Racing Métro 92 Paris where he played for the following three seasons. At the beginning of the 2010/2011 season Berry joined London Wasps on a 2-year contract.[2] After a number of strong performances he signed a contract extension for the following two seasons.[3] Berry retired early into the 2012/2013 season at the advice of his physician after sustaining a series of concussions.[4]
Refereeing career
Berry made a rapid rise up the refereeing ranks in 2015, making his debut both in Queensland Premier Rugby and in Australia's National Rugby Championship within a year of taking up the whistle.[5]
He joined the Super Rugby referees panel for the 2016 season,[6] and refereed his first match in Super Rugby on 9 April 2016, between the Stormers and Sunwolves.
He was selected as one of the referees at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.[7]
References
- "Aviva Premiership Rugby - London Wasps". web page. Premier Rugby. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
- http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3823_6134980,00.html
- "Wasps secure scrum half". Bucks Free Press. 8 March 2012.
- "Wasps' Nic Berry forced to retire". ESPN Scrum. 1 October 2012.
- "Profile: Former Reds scrumhalf and now NRC Referee Nic Berry". 25 August 2015.
- "Refs and law variations revealed" (Press release). SANZAR. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- "Rugby World Cup 2019 - Officials: Nic Berry". web page. Rugby World Cup Limited. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
External links
- Nic Berry Racing Métro profile (in French) at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 May 2010)
- Nic Berry QRU profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 April 2007)
- Nic Berry on SARugby.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 21 April 2009)
- Nic Berry at ESPNscrum