Rookie to officiate Boks v Wales Test

NEWS: The first Test between South Africa and Wales will be a very historic career event for referee Nika Amashukel.

The encounter between Springboks and Wales in Pretoria will be the Georgian official’s first Test outside of Europe.

The 27-year-old Amashukel will be assisted by Angus Gardner and Andrew Piardi, while Joy Neville from Ireland will act as TMO.

Gardner (Australia) was appointed for the second Test (July 9 in Bloemfontein), and Carley (England) has been handed the final clash (July 16 in Cape Town).

South African officials Jaco Peyper, AJ Jacobs, Marius Jonker and Marius van der Westhuizen also received appointments.

Peyper has been appointed to referee the second Test between the All Blacks and Ireland (July 9), where Van der Westhuizen will be the TMO, two weeks after Jacobs will referee the Test between Chile and Scotland on June 25.

Jonker will be heading west on Television Match Official duty in the USA on the first three Saturdays in July. He will start in Argentina, when the Pumas host Scotland in San Salvador (July 2), followed by the two Rugby World Cup qualifiers between Chile and the USA, in Chile (July 9), and a week later in Glendale, Colorado in the USA (July 16).

South Africa will also have two referees on the panel for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from July 29-31, following the inclusion of Morné Ferreira and Ashleigh Murray-Pretorius on the team of match officials for this four-yearly event.

Wayne Barnes (England) will move closer to the 100-test milestone as a referee when he takes charge of his 99th test with the third test between New Zealand and Ireland during a packed July international window.

Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand) will take charge of his 30th test with Argentina v Scotland on July 16

Pierre Brousset (France) also takes charge of a test outside of Europe for the first time with the Uruguay v Romania second test in Montevideo

A total of 22 match officials representing nine nations will take charge of the 25 matches.

World Rugby Match Officials Selection Committee Chairman Graham Mourie said: “These appointments reflect another key milestone on the road to both the women’s and men’s Rugby World Cups and have been made on merit following a review of performances at both international and club level.

“While the respective Six Nations competitions have demonstrated positive momentum for the match officiating group, we always strive for improvement and in particular by focusing on the clear and obvious with an emphasis on the promotion of safety, speed, space.”

*For the full list of mid-year match official appointments,  CLICK HERE!!!