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Johannesburg - International Rugby Board (IRB) referee manager Paddy O’Brien has issued an apology to Stuart Dickinson and the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) for public comments he made regarding Dickinson’s officiating of the Italy v New Zealand match on November 14.

O’Brien’s comments followed a scheduled meeting with the New Zealand management at the team hotel in London on Tuesday and were made in discussion with media assembled at the same hotel for a team media session.

While such meetings with team management are regular practice, the IRB said in a statement that it was not IRB policy to publicly comment on refereeing appraisals or to discuss details of meetings held with team officials and all such feedback should be conducted via the appropriate channels.

"I have unreservedly apologised to Stuart Dickinson for the action of publicly discussing elements of his performance review and would like to extend that apology to the Australian Rugby Union," O'Brien said.

"A clear and confidential best practice protocol exists for match official appraisal and feedback involving all stakeholders and I regret breaching this protocol.

"The IRB has in place a dedicated high performance structure for the development of international referees and works hard with its member unions to identify up and coming talent and promote consistency at all levels of the game.

"Team management are also offered the opportunity to meet with the referee prior to a match or arrange a meeting with a performance reviewer or myself - this is normal practice.

"Again I would like to apologise to Stuart and the ARU for the public nature of the comments that I made."