Jérôme Garcès has the pick of the matches this weekend as he takes charge of the French Top 14 final in Paris. Montpellier will be playing Castres in Paris in what is Graces’ second final. Castre will be pleased to see him as his first final saw them beat Toulon in 2013. He’ll be assisted this time by Romain Poite and Laurent Cardona with Éric Briquet-Campin in the TV truck.
The summer international window starts to build up this weekend as both Wales and South Africa head to Washington DC for their warm-up match against each other. Matthew Carley is in town to referee the match.
As a result, there’s no South Africa Conference matches this week in Super Rugby, so just five matches to play in week 16. Things kick-off on Friday night with a Kiwi blockbuster that sees the Highlanders host the Hurricanes in Dunedin where Ben O’Keeffe has the whistle. On Saturday, Nick Briant (pictured left) will referee the Blues versus Rebels in Auckland while Nic Berry is in the middle for the other big Kiwi clash of the weekend when the Chiefs host the Crusaders in Hamilton. Gus Gardner will referee the clash between old foes the Reds and Waratahs in Brisbane on Saturday night, while Rasta Rasivhenge will referee the Brumbies versus Sunwolves match in Canberra on Sunday.
In London, it’s the penultimate round of the World Sevens series in which Fiji will be looking to stave off the South African’s who are over their shoulders in the series standings. There’s still an outside chance the New Zealand 7s squad could take to spot. The 7s referees will be hoping to continue their build-up to the Rugby World Cup Sevens later in the summer.
France – Top 14 Final
Montpellier v Castres (played at Stade de France, Paris)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès
ARs: Romain Poite & Laurent Cardona
TMO: Éric Briquet-Campin
International
South Africa v Wales (played in Washington DC)
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
ARs: Alexandre Ruiz (France) & Frank Murphy (Ireland)
TMO: David Grashoff (England)
U20s World Championships – Day 2
Scotland v Argentina (in Perpignan) – Egon Seconds (SA)
France v Georgia (in Béziers) – Pali Deluca (Arg)
Australia v Japan (in Narbonne) – Jamie Nutbrown (NZ)
England v Italy (in Perpignan) – Dan Jones (Wal)
New Zealand v Wales (in Béziers) – Ludovic Cayre (Fra)
South Africa v Ireland (in Narbonne) – Damon Murphy (Aus)
World Rugby Sevens – London
Referees:
Paulo Duarte (Portugal), Craig Evans (Wales), Sam Grove-White (Scotland), Nori Hashimoto (Japan), Richard Haughton (England), Matt Rodden (Hong Kong), Jérémy Rozier (France), and Damian Schneider (Argentina)
Super Rugby – week 16
Blues v Rebels
Referee: Nick Briant (NZ)
ARs: Brendon Pickerill (NZ) & Angus Mabey (NZ)
TMO: Ben Skeen (NZ)
Chiefs v Crusaders
Referee: Nic Berry (Aus)
ARs: Richard Kelly (NZ) & Cam Stone (NZ)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
Reds v Waratahs
Referee: Angus Gardner (Aus)
ARs: Jordan Way (Aus) & James Leckie (Aus)
TMO: Damien Mitchelmore (Aus)
Brumbies v Sunwolves
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (SA)
ARs: Will Houston (Aus) & Graham Cooper (Aus)
TMO: George Ayoub (Aus)
Highlanders v Hurricanes
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
ARs: Angus Mabey (NZ) & Mike Lash (NZ)
TMO: Aaron Paterson (NZ)
