Skip to content

Sara Cox referees Harlequins 35-29 Worcester and becomes first woman to oversee Premiership game

Sara Cox became the first woman to referee a Premiership match when Harlequins took on Worcester; the 31-year-old is also the first female to have assistant refereed a game in the top flight last year and has Olympic Games and Women's Rugby World Cup experience

Sara Cox
Image: Sara Cox made Premiership Rugby history at The Stoop on Saturday

Sara Cox became the first woman to referee a Premiership Rugby match as she oversaw Harlequins' 35-29 victory over Worcester Warriors.

It was a tidy afternoon from the official, who has previously run the touchline 11 times and acted as TMO twice.

Cox was made to wait for her debut as she was originally selected to referee Worcester versus Gloucester in June, which was cancelled due to coronavirus.

The 31-year-old from Exeter enjoyed a largely quiet game at The Stoop, handing out one yellow card to Warriors' Noah Heward due to a challenge with Tyrone Green of Quins.

Sara Cox
Image: Cox has experience of refereeing at the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Olympic Games

Cox became the world's first professional female rugby union referee in 2016 and took charge of the Premiership Cup match between Northampton and Wasps in 2018.

She is already the first female assistant referee to officiate in a Premiership game after she ran the touchline last year for Wasps' 23-27 victory over Bath.

Quins supporters gave Cox a standing ovation as she left the field at The Stoop following the win for the home side on Saturday.

Also See:

England prospects Louis Lynagh and Alex Dombrandt scored tries in front of Eddie Jones while Cadan Murley, Dino Lamb-Cona and Joe Marchant also helped Quins to victory over Worcester, with Tomasso Allan kicking the conversions for all five tries.

Win £250,000 with Super 6!
Win £250,000 with Super 6!

Another Saturday, another chance to win £250,000 with Super 6. Play for free, entries by 3pm.

Around Sky