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Super Rugby's rookie refs revealed

By Paul Dobson
Monday 26 Jan 2015

At their annual course for referees in Manly, Sydney, SANZAR revealed its 16 referees for Super Rugby in 2015.

Steve Walsh of Australia is the most experienced of the referees in terms of Tests and Super Rugby matches.

The least experienced are Ben O'Keeffe of New Zealand and Jaco van Heerden of South Africa who have refereed neither Tests nor Super Rugby matches.

O'Keeffe started refereeing whilst at medical school in Dunedin and quickly progressed through the ranks. He had had a year off playing after making the Marlborough Under-18 side. He moved from Dunedin to Wellington and has featured in the Heartland Championship, ITM Cup, as a Super Rugby assistant and at the 2014 Junior World Championship where he earned appointment to the final between England and South Africa. His father Peter also refereed at provincial level and when he's not in the middle, O'Keeffe practices as an eye doctor in Wellington, New Zealand.

Pretoria-born Van Heerden meanwhile is an advocate to the High Court of South Africa and joins Super Rugby ranks having made rapid progress applying law on rugby fields in South Africa. The 32-year old handled himself with aplomb in his first Currie Cup match during the 2014 season and it was no surprise that he was awarded a semifinal later in the year. A University of Pretoria Law Graduate, Van Heerden played rugby for his university before later turning his attention to refereeing.

Super Rugby's rookie refs revealedSuper Rugby referee squad for 2015:

Stuart Berry (South Africa: 12 Super Rugby, 4 Tests)

Nick Briant (New Zealand: 13 Super Rugby, 2 Tests)

Mike Fraser (New Zealand: 14 Super Rugby, 4 Tests)

Angus Gardner (Australia: 14 Super Rugby, 3 Tests)

Rohan Hoffmann (Australia: 16 Super Rugby: 3 Tests)

Glen Jackson (New Zealand: 30 Super Rugby, 9 Tests)

Jason Jaftha (South Africa: 6 Super Rugby, 1 Test)

Craig Joubert (South Africa: 84 Super Rugby, 54 Tests)

Andrew Lees (Australia: 12 Super Rugby, 2 Tests)

Matt O'Brien (Australia: 2 Super Rugby, 0 Tests)

Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand: 0 Super Rugby, 0 Tests)

Jaco Peyper (South Africa: 48 Super Rugby, 19 Tests)

Chris Pollock (New Zealand: 61 Super Rugby, 19 Tests)

Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa: 4 Super Rugby, 0 Tests)

Jaco van Heerden (South Africa: 0 Super Rugby, 0 Tests)

Steve Walsh (Australia): 108 Super Rugby, 60 Tests)

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