Jake 'looking forward' to young Welsh ref in Parma despite Bulls' whistle woes

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 suffering from what can, crudely, be labelled as "SA referee fatigue", much like Covid or bubble fatigue.

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"I'm quite interested to see how it goes with a foreign referee," the Bulls' director of rugby said on Thursday.

"We've probably, through no-one's fault, had the same (local) referees over and over in different competitions over the past two years, whether it's been the Rainbow Cup or Currie Cup or Super Rugby Unlocked. We've been stuck with the same 5,6,7 referees. 

"I'm looking forward to getting a different interpretation and keen to see how we play and how the game shapes. Like I said, it's absolutely no-one's fault, but we've become a bit stagnant just have the same persons reffing us week-in and week-out."

That doesn't mean the Bulls haven't felt the bouts of frustration that every other side has when it comes to some on-field decisions.

"All coaches have been frustrated by certain calls that have been made," said White.

"There's no difference between any coach in that regard. Coaches see things in a different way (to the