World Rugby has announced the officiating teams that will take charge of South Africa’s upcoming Tests against Wales, Scotland and England on the outgoing tour in November.
South Africa is well represented on the match official panels for the November internationals – where AJ Jacobs will be making his Test debut – and the two Dubai Sevens tournaments, while the referees for the Springboks’ three matches in the UK were also announced by World Rugby on Friday.
Paul Williams (New Zealand) will referee the opening Test of the end-of-year tour against Wales in Cardiff on 6 November, with Angus Gardner (Australia) in charge a week later against Scotland in Edinburgh, and Andrew Brace (Ireland) has been appointed for the final Test of the season when the Boks take on England at Twickenham on 20 November.
The Springbok Women will have Sara Cox (England) and Clara Munarini (Italy) take the whistle in their Test matches against France (6 November in Vannes) and Wales (13 November in Cardiff), respectively.
Jaco Peyper has been handed two Tests – Spain vs Fiji in Madrid on 6 November and England vs Australia in London a week later – while Jacobs will make his Test debut as referee when Romania host Tonga in Bucharest on 20 November.
Aimee Barrett-Theron, who is making her refereeing debut in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship this weekend, has been appointed to take charge of two big Tests – England vs New Zealand in Exeter (31 October) and France vs New Zealand in Pau (13 November).
Marius Jonker and Stuart Berry are on the television match official panel for the November Tests, and Jacobs, Morne Ferreira and Ashleigh Murray-Pretorius are on the match official panels for the Emirates Dubai 7s, on consecutive weekends at the end of November and start of December.
“We are extremely proud of these men and women and wish them well for the big task at hand in the coming months,” said Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby.
“Jaco and Aimee have established themselves as two of the best match officials and their appointments are testimony to that, and the same goes for Stuart and Marius, while it’s great for AJ to get his first Test after consistently performing at a very high standard in recent years.
“To be considered at World Rugby level takes a lot of hard work and dedication and we are grateful to have such a big group of internationally acclaimed match officials on our own panels, and it is testimony to the hard work done by our referees department.”
To view the full match official appointments, click here.
Photo: ANDRES LARROVERE/AFP/Getty Images
