Union: Referee loses control with broken whistle

Referees don’t often make the highlight reel but a shonky whistle brought down an awkward spotlight on referee Andrew Brace in the Rugby European Champions Cup.

While presiding over the opening match of the competition between Wasps and Zebre, Brace reached for his whistle to signal a penalty off a ruck.

But to his dismay, nothing sounded save the fruitless rushing of air and spit through his lapel mic as players, not hearing the alert, continued play in utter confusion.

“They haven’t heard it but the referee keeps going at his whistle,” chuckled the commentators as Brace continued in vain to sound the broken piece of metal.

“We don’t see this too often do we?”

After play was eventually halted a substitute whistle was brought onto replace its defective counterpart.

As the new whistle rang out across the stadium, Brace was treated to the crowd’s tongue-in-cheek cheers – a moment he won’t soon forget.