Laura Pettingale will make her third appearance at Twickenham this year when she takes charge of the fifth Women’s Varsity match to be played at the home of English rugby.
The 25-year-old was the referee at the BUCS Women’s Championship final between Exeter and Durham universities in April and was presented with her RFU International Referee’s blazer ahead of the England XV v Barbarians match in June.
That followed her Women’s Six Nations debut earlier in the year, when she refereed the game between Italy and Ireland. She was also an assistant referee in the match between Italy and France.
Laura followed in the footsteps of her mother, Tracy, in becoming a referee. Laura played for Aylesford Bulls and then took up the whistle, becoming an assistant at Women’s Six Nations level and at the World Cup Sevens in Moscow in 2015.
That year both mother and daughter were involved in international matches as assistant referees when England hosted France. Laura was on the touch line for the Under 20 match at Esher and Tracy was at Twickenham later in the day for the Women’s Six Nations clash.
It was Tracy who encouraged Laura to take a referee’s course when she was 17 as part of her practical for her A Level in physical education at her school in Maidstone. From school she went to Chichester University and is now a teacher in Northampton.
Her first game was an U12 match, but by the time she went to University she was controlling matches in the Kent 1 and Invicta 1 leagues. She will warm-up for the ‘Battle of the Blues’ by refereeing an international match between the Netherlands and Hong Kong at the National Rugby Centre of Amsterdam on 30 November.
Her first Twickenham experience came in 2017, when she was an assistant referee at the women’s match between England and Canada.
She will become the latest English international referee to take charge of the Varsity Match at Twickenham (2015: Sarah Cox; 2016: Clare Hodnett; 2017: Sarah Toll; 2018: Nikki O’Donnell) and graduates from being the second assistant referee at the 2016 game to referee today.
Among her assistants will be England Women’s World Cup winner La Toya Mason, who has taken up the whistle after winning more than 70 caps for her country.
2019 Women’s Varsity Match Officials
Referee: Laura Pettingale
AR1: La Toya Mason
