After quite a build up, the Lions take on the All Blacks in the first of three test matches. South African referee Jaco Peyper once again takes the whistle, before handing over to his French colleagues for the second and third tests.
Elsewhere, Ben Whitehouse referees the Rugby World Cup qualifier in Hamilton, Canada as the US Eagles visit for what will be a closely fought local derby. Luke Pearce is in Argentina looking after their tie up with Georgia and Gus Gardner has hopped over to Johannesburg to oversee the third South African test against France.
In an intriguing appointment, Irish born JP Doyle (now refereeing under the English rose) will oversee the Japan v Ireland match in Tokyo. Given the amount of matches available in this summer window, we do find this an odd position to put the officials in.
We hope the weekend goes off smoothly for all referees and match officials!
British & Irish Lions tour
Saturday:
New Zealand v British & Irish Lions
Referee: Jaco Peyper (SA)
ARs: Romain Poite (Fra) & Jérôme Garcès (Fra)
TMO: George Ayoub (Aus)
Tuesday:
Hurricanes v British & Irish Lions (in Wellington)
Ref: Romain Poite (Fra)
ARs: Jaco Peyper (SA) & Jérôme Garcès (Fra)
TMO: George Ayoub (Aus)
Summer internationals
Friday 23 June
Samoa v Wales
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)
ARs: Mike Fraser (NZ) & Rohan Hoffmann (Aus)
Sat 24 June
Fiji v Scotland
Referee: Pascal Gauzère (Fra)
ARs: Will Houston (Aus) & Graham Cooper (Aus)
Japan v Ireland
Referee: JP Doyle (Eng)
ARs: Mathieu Raynal (Fra) & Alex Ruiz (Fra)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
Argentina v Georgia
Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)
ARs: John Lacey (Ire) & Egon Seconds (SA)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (NZ)
Australia v Italy
Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)
ARs: Wayne Barnes (Eng) & Brendon Pickerill (NZ)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZ)
South Africa v France
Referee: Angus Gardner (Aus)
ARs: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ) & Glen Jackson (NZ)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (Eng)
Rugby World Cup Qualifier
Canada v USA
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)
ARs: Andrew Brace (Ire) & Shuhei Kubo (Jpn)
TMO: Sean Davey (Eng)
Women’s Sevens Series – Clermont
Referees: Beatrice Benvenuti (Italy), Sara Cox (England), Ben Crouse (South Africa), Hollie Davidson (Scotland), Adam Jones (Wales), Sakurako Kawasaki (Japan), Joy Neville (Ireland), Alhambra Nievas (Spain)
Jaco Peyper demonstrated comprehensively in the Ireland – New Zealand game in Dublin that he’s was hopelessly out of his depth so quite how the ‘powers that be’ decided he should officiate another international match, let alone a Lions v All Blacks Test is beyond me. And while I’m on, it also beggars belief that George Ayoub is retained as the TMO for the Third and final Test in New Zealand when he is predisposed towards questioning the referees decisions. Appalling!
You clearly haven’t read the post on SBW from Saturday or want to understand the role of the TMO or the process they go through. But thanks for the comment.