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Cape Town - Sport24 readers have doffed their caps to SA's most experienced match official Jonathan Kaplan after he reffed his final first-class match in his home country.
GALLERY: The Currie Cup final in pictures
GALLERY: Jonathan Kaplan's career in pictures
Kaplan made an emotional farewell from refereeing in Saturday's Currie Cup final at Newlands.
Durban-born Kaplan, who will turn 47 next month, will retire from first-class refereeing at the end of the season.
Kaplan, who was spotted in tears prior to kick-off, reffed his sixth Currie Cup final on Saturday, to go with three Super Rugby finals and four Rugby World Cups.
The Sharks lifted the trophy after a one-sided 33-19 victory.
This is what Sport24 readers had to say about Kaplan:
"Good luck to ref Kaplan for the road ahead..." -
"The man reffed 423 top level games." - King Kev
"68 Tests speak for itself and respected worldwide." Karl Kat
"A top class ref in my view." - Alan Smith
"Very highly respected." - Emmett Gracie
"A fantastic referee who will be sadly missed. Enjoy your rest, Jonathan , you deserve it . Lucky time now for club teams and school games . They get one of the best." - Rodney Bryant
"Referees are doing thankless job and things will go wrong at times. Thank you, Mr Kaplan. I hope you'll still be involved in rugby in some capacity." - Richardson Mzaidume
"Kaplan was and is a great ref." - David Bryan Burger
"We say goodbye to a gentleman, a great rugby-referree and atrue lover of tthe game of rugby. Thanks Kappiee, you made us proud to be associated with rugby as referees. See you in tthe stands man, enjoy yoiur rretirement." - Andre Kulu Cruywagen
"Moet se, hy was n briljante ref saterdag, het die manne baie kalm gehou. Vaarwel kappie, ons bulle sal jou nie mis nie want jy het ons span verpes, verder was jy baie goed met ander games. Nou bly net Craig Joubert oor, die res van SA refs is useless, dink aan jafter etc." - Brutus McGregor
"Sorry to see you go Jonathan Kaplan, the best ref in SA." - Neels van Heerden
"Every match Kaplan ref'd was a cracker, there was never a question over who should have won, it was always the best team. I maybe biased but I've never seen a bad ref'd game when an SA ref was in charge." - Keith Wills
"An awesome contribution from you over the years Johathan, wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Thank you." - Martin Fourie
"Great Ref , one of SA's best . Cheers Mr Kaplan , you had a great career. All the Best ." - Tyronne Jardim
"Kappie - congrats on an awesome career, and well done on your fantastic and objective refereeing over the years. Professional rugby has lost a great ref!! All the best with your plans for the future!" - John Boychee Butler
"All we wanted was a ref that was fair, and let the game flow...not be the centre of attention. That is what Kaplan did, so well done to him. Massive thanks to him for all that he has given to rugby, and my apologies for giving you such a hard time when I was in the stands ;-). I promise it was only when you were wrong! Hehe" - Trav Griffie
Jonathan Kaplan gets a warm send-off from the players. (Gallo Images)
GALLERY: The Currie Cup final in pictures
GALLERY: Jonathan Kaplan's career in pictures
Kaplan made an emotional farewell from refereeing in Saturday's Currie Cup final at Newlands.
Durban-born Kaplan, who will turn 47 next month, will retire from first-class refereeing at the end of the season.
Kaplan, who was spotted in tears prior to kick-off, reffed his sixth Currie Cup final on Saturday, to go with three Super Rugby finals and four Rugby World Cups.
The Sharks lifted the trophy after a one-sided 33-19 victory.
This is what Sport24 readers had to say about Kaplan:
"Good luck to ref Kaplan for the road ahead..." -
"The man reffed 423 top level games." - King Kev
"68 Tests speak for itself and respected worldwide." Karl Kat
"A top class ref in my view." - Alan Smith
"Very highly respected." - Emmett Gracie
"A fantastic referee who will be sadly missed. Enjoy your rest, Jonathan , you deserve it . Lucky time now for club teams and school games . They get one of the best." - Rodney Bryant
"Referees are doing thankless job and things will go wrong at times. Thank you, Mr Kaplan. I hope you'll still be involved in rugby in some capacity." - Richardson Mzaidume
"Kaplan was and is a great ref." - David Bryan Burger
"We say goodbye to a gentleman, a great rugby-referree and atrue lover of tthe game of rugby. Thanks Kappiee, you made us proud to be associated with rugby as referees. See you in tthe stands man, enjoy yoiur rretirement." - Andre Kulu Cruywagen
"Moet se, hy was n briljante ref saterdag, het die manne baie kalm gehou. Vaarwel kappie, ons bulle sal jou nie mis nie want jy het ons span verpes, verder was jy baie goed met ander games. Nou bly net Craig Joubert oor, die res van SA refs is useless, dink aan jafter etc." - Brutus McGregor
"Sorry to see you go Jonathan Kaplan, the best ref in SA." - Neels van Heerden
"Every match Kaplan ref'd was a cracker, there was never a question over who should have won, it was always the best team. I maybe biased but I've never seen a bad ref'd game when an SA ref was in charge." - Keith Wills
"An awesome contribution from you over the years Johathan, wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Thank you." - Martin Fourie
"Great Ref , one of SA's best . Cheers Mr Kaplan , you had a great career. All the Best ." - Tyronne Jardim
"Kappie - congrats on an awesome career, and well done on your fantastic and objective refereeing over the years. Professional rugby has lost a great ref!! All the best with your plans for the future!" - John Boychee Butler
"All we wanted was a ref that was fair, and let the game flow...not be the centre of attention. That is what Kaplan did, so well done to him. Massive thanks to him for all that he has given to rugby, and my apologies for giving you such a hard time when I was in the stands ;-). I promise it was only when you were wrong! Hehe" - Trav Griffie
Jonathan Kaplan gets a warm send-off from the players. (Gallo Images)
