Refs for Finals Series

SANZAR has announced the referee appointments for the Super Rugby Qualifiers to be held on Saturday, 21 July, 2012. Both matches will be refereed by South African referees, Jonathan Kaplan and Jaco Peyper.

This match will be Kaplan's 99th Super rugby match which will take him to one more than Stuart Dickinson's 99.

Both matches will have South African teams in them. The appointments give credence to the SANZAR policy that merit is the yardstick of appointment, not nationality.

With the Super Rugby regular season coming to an exciting close in South Africa, the Reds, who topped the Australian Conference, will host the Sharks of South Africa while the Crusaders of New Zealand will host the Bulls of South Africa.

SANZAR game manager Lyndon Bray said the appointments were made after a full season analysis of each official, which in turn saw referees rewarded with strong performances throughout the campaign.

Bray said: “We are delighted to announce that Jaco (Peyper) and Jonathan (Kaplan) will referee the first matches in this season’s Super Rugby Finals Series."

Bray said that the final appointments consider three key criteria – the overall performance, accuracy of the big calls and the ‘right fit for the game’.

He said: “Referees were reviewed against their overall performance, which takes into consideration their consistency over the whole competition and form at this latter stage of the competition.”

Super Rugby Finals Series appointments:

Crusaders vs Bulls at AMI Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), Glen Jackson (New Zealand)

Television match official: Garratt Williamson (New Zealand)

Reds vs Sharks at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), James Leckie (Australia)

Television match officials: Matt Goddard (Australia)