Rolland, Joubert to ref semis

Auckland - Ireland's Alain Rolland and South Africa's Craig Joubert will referee the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced on Monday.

Rolland, in charge for the 2007 World Cup final, will preside over Saturday's match between Wales and France at Eden Park, with Joubert the man in the middle 24 hours later at the same venue for New Zealand's clash with Australia.

The decisions by the IRB's match official selection committee mean all four sides should be well-used to the interpretations of both referees, given Wales and France regularly come across Rolland during the Six Nations, while Joubert is familiar to the All Blacks and the Wallabies from the Tri-Nations.

France have often complained they are at disadvantage from referees barking out instructions to players in English but that shouldn't be a problem this Saturday given Rolland's fluency in French.

An IRB statement said the appointments were made on Monday "following a thorough review of quarter-final performances" but while Joubert oversaw Wales's win against Ireland, Rolland was not in charge of any of the last eight fixtures.