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Cape Town - SA Rugby has congratulated local match officials Jaco Peyper and Marius Jonker, who were appointed on the official panel for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
World Rugby announced the squad of 23 match officials selected to take charge of the 48 matches at the showpiece event in Japan, which runs from September 20 to November 2.
'Team 21' - the 21st tournament team - comprises of 12 referees, seven assistant referees and four Television Match Officials (TMOs) representing nine nations. 'Team 21' has 804 Tests under its collective belt, as either referees, assistant referees or TMOs.
"The Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle event of our sport and to have two of our officials on the refereeing panel is a very good achievement. They both deserve this and on behalf of South African rugby I want to congratulate Jaco and Marius on their inclusion, and wish them well for the tournament in Japan," said SA Rugby president Mark Alexander.
This will be the second Rugby World Cup appearance for Peyper, who made his debut appearance at the 2015 edition in the United Kingdom.
He recently became only the fourth referee in history to officiate in 100 Super Rugby matches when he was in charge of the trans-Tasman clash between the Crusaders and Brumbies in Christchurch.
Peyper has handled 46 Tests, including the series between the All Blacks and the British & Irish Lions in 2017. Last year he was named SA Rugby’s Referee of the Year for a third time. He refereed his fourth Currie Cup final in Cape Town in 2018.
Jonker made his debut at first class level in 2003 and quickly rose to take charge of his first Test match in 2005. In all, he refereed in 24 Test matches - the last of them in 2011 and was also a member of the officials’ panel at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. Although he retired from refereeing in 2014, he continued to be part of the refereeing community as a TMO.
The 2019 RWC match officials:
Referees (12)
Wayne Barnes (England), Luke Pearce (England), Jérôme Garcès (France), Romain Poite (France), Pascal Gaüzère (France), Mathieu Raynal (France), Nigel Owens (Wales), Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand), Nic Berry (Australia), Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees (7)
Matthew Carley (England, reserve referee), Karl Dickson (England), Andrew Brace (Ireland), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand), Federico Anselmi (Argentina), Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Alex Ruiz (France)
TMOs (4)
Graham Hughes (England), Rowan Kitt (England), Ben Skeen (New Zealand), Marius Jonker (South Africa)
