Marius Jonker bows out

Marius Jonker, one of the top referees in the world in his time, has decided refereed his last in the big arena of South African rugby.

In 2013 he withdrew from international rugby and became very much a referee in South Africa, and yet his last Test was away from home – Namibia vs German in Windhoek on Wednesday.

It was the 25th Test of his illustrious career. The only South African referees who have refereed more Tests are Jonathan Kaplan, Craig Joubert, Mark Lawrence and André Watson. Possibly the highlights of his Test career were Australia vs New Zealand, two Calcutta Cup matches, New Zealand vs Scotland and France, and Ireland vs Australia.

Besides the Tests there were numerous Super Rugby and Currie Cup matches. He has been a familiar figure on the rugby fields, with his accurate, calm and good-humoured way of refereeing, still one of the top 10 referees in South Africa.

Jonker turned 45 in June. Such is the state of modern refereeing that that is regarded as old for a top referee. It was not ever so.

Now there is no more refereeing in the big time, at least not  on the field. This year Jonker had a taste of playing TMO and hopes to be more involved in that in the future, a Test referee who has become a TMO, as Shaun Veldsman has done.

André Watson, now South Africa's refereeing boss, said of Jonker: “Marius has built up a legendary status and his record of achievements speaks for itself. To me he was even better than the accolades he received. He was a players' referee and gave the game what it demanded/deserved for 80 minutes every time he went onto the pitch. He will be missed but I am happy that he is willing to plough back into the game by being willing to take up the TMO role”