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 referred a match in the Super Rugby.
Video Nic Berry
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 November 4. 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. After a number of strong performances he signed a contract extension for the following two seasons. Berry retired early into the 2012/2013 season at the advice of his physician after sustaining a series of concussions.
Maps Nic Berry
Refereeing career
Berry made a rapid rise up the refereeing ranks in 2015, making his debut in Queensland Premier Rugby and in Australia's National Rugby Championship all within a year of taking up the whistle.
He joined the Super Rugby referees panel for the 2016 season, and refereed his first match in Super Rugby on 9 April 2016, between the Stormers and Sunwolves.
References
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)
- Profile & Statistics on ESPN Scrum
Source of article : Wikipedia
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