World Rugby has confirmed the 35 Emirates Match Officials who make up the men’s and women’s panels for HSBC SVNS 2025 and the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025.
Twelve unions are represented among the 17 officials named on the SVNS 2025 panels with just over half returning from the 2024 group to join newcomers to the high-performance Sevens Referee squads. For the first time in history, there is an all-female panel for the women’s SVNS 2025. This is the start of the 2028 Olympic games cycle, arguably the pinnacle event in the sevens world.
World Svns Series panels
Eight officials have named on the men’s panel and nine on the women’s groups.
Ben Connor (Wales), Peter Martin (Ireland) and Evan Urruzmendi (France) have been named to their first SVNS panel, the latter two having refereed on the Challenger series before.
They join five Paris 2024 officials in Francisco González (Uruguay), Nick Hogan (New Zealand), AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Tevita Rokovereni (Fiji) and George Selwood (England) who between them boast a combined total of 110 SVNS tournaments.
Tiana Anderson (New Zealand), Ella Goldsmith (Australia), Sunny Lee (Hong Kong China), Zoe Naude (South Africa) and Chloe Sampson (New Zealand) will debut in SVNS 2025. They join Paris 2024 refs, Kat Roche (USA), Maria Latos (Germany) and Lavenia Racaca (Fiji) and the returning Jess Ling from Australia
Challenger series refs
Nine officials are named on each of the the men’s and women’s panels, representing a total of 11 different unions.
Ruairidh Campbell (Scotland), Julien Caulier (France), Franco Rosella (Italy) and Luis Fernández (Spain) make their Challenger debuts on the men’s panel.
Maria Clotilde Benvenuti (Italy), Doriane Constanty (France), Alexandra Ferré (France), Emma Gallagher (Canada) and Hibiki Ikeda (Japan) are the debutants on the women’s panel. You might recognise the surname, Benvenuti. Maria Clotilde is the younger sister of Beatrice, who refereed 16 world series tournaments between 2013-19
Olympic cycle starts
World Rugby High Performance Sevens Referee Manager Paddy O’Brien said, “I am delighted with the mixture of experience and up-and-coming talented referees selected. These are the first squads selected which not only service the series events but starts the four-year cycle towards having experienced referees available for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.”
HSBC SVNS 2025 kicks off in Dubai on 30 November. It will conclude with the HSBC SVNS World Championship 2025 in Los Angeles on 3-4 May at Dignity Health Sports Park.
HSBC SVNS 2025 panels
Men’s Panel:
Ben Connor (Wal)
Francisco González (Uru)
Nick Hogan (NZ)
AJ Jacobs (SA)
Peter Martin (Ire)
Tevita Rokovereni (Fij)
George Selwood (Eng)
Evan Urruzmendi (Fra)
Women’s panel:
Tiana Anderson (NZ)
Ella Goldsmith (Aus)
Maria Latos (Ger)
Lee Chui Yan Sunny (HKC)
Jess Ling (Aus)
Zoe Naude (SA)
Lavenia Racaca (Fij)
Kat Roche (USA)
Chloe Sampson (NZ)
World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2025 panels
Men’s panel:
Ruairidh Campbell (Sco)
Julien Caulier (Fra)
Craig Chan (HKC)
Sulkhani Chikhladze (Geo)
Griffin Colby (SA)
Gonzalo de Achaval (Arg)
Franco Rosella (Ita)
Luis Fernández (Sp)
Morgan White (HKC)
Women’s panel:
Maria Clotilde Benvenuti (Ita)
Doriane Constanty (Fra)
Alexandra Ferré (Fra)
Emma Gallagher (Can)
Hibiki Ikeda (Jpn)
Nerea Livoni (Arg)
Kristine Lovatt (Can)
Giana Viljoen (SA)
Holly Wood (Eng)