According to head of the panel, Ray Fourie, the panel will now be drawing from the rich abunandance of highly qualified part-time referees that watch international and club games in bars across the country.
"It all started last weekend, when I was watching the New Zealand - South Africa game," said Fourie. "There was this tackle that may or may not have been high, and then everyone in the bar started shouting, 'That was clearly high! Come on, Mr Ref! Are you blind or something?' I was astounded. I never knew that bars were full of people who were professional and knowledgeable match officials pretending to be just spectators and fans. I mean, these guys were calling every mistake and foul there was. They even called a few that not even I or the ref saw happen."
This is not the first time the IRBPR has caused controversy in the beautiful game of rugby. In 2011 they made headlines after a decision to further their equity employment and empowerment policy saw them hiring blind and visually impaired people as referees. Some of these new referees even went on to ref very notable games, such as the 2011 World Cup game between South Africa and Australia.
"We've always been very transformative and forward-thinking in our hiring policy," said head of Public Relations for the IRB Brad Desizhuns. "We're evening thinking of scouring Mental Asylums for our next batch of employees."
This came around just after the scathing furore caused by a damning 2010 report by the South African Polices Services, which found that some 72 referees were found with massive stashes of psychedelic, dissociative, deliriant and other such hallucinogenic drugs in their bags.
"Copious quantities of psilocybin and mescaline were discovered in the match officials' bags just before the matches. In that 2011 World Cup game, you might as well have renamed LSD as 'Brycie in the Sky with Diamonds'," said the report.
The new referees will be put through a new training regime, consisting of a few draught beers and perhaps a brandy and coke.
"Most normal referees are put through an intensive and grueling eight-month course and develop their acuity and skills over a lifetime of passion for the sport," said new head coach and refereeing skills training overseer Ray Charles. "However, new data has shown that the same level of mastery and intimate knowledge of the game's rules can be garnered after just a few pints."
The IRBPR also said that they would be installing "Fourth Official Discontentment and Disagreement Monitors" in bars across the country.
"That way, if our new referees miss something, all those leftover professional referees will be able communicate with our on-field officials by way of their discontended yells, tuts, mutters and held-up-in-the-air-in-disbelief hands," said Fourie.
Repeated calls to get in contact on the telephone with the IRBPR for further comment have, however, proven to be unsuccessful. But that's okay.
We're guessing it's not the first time they've had 200 missed calls in 80 minutes.
