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World Rugby confirms July referee list, including Springboks-Ireland
By Liam Heagney
World Rugby have named its match officials for the upcoming 38-game June/July international window and the 11-game revamped Pacific Nations Cup – including the eagerly awaited two-match South Africa versus Ireland series.
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Thirty referees in total have been selected to take charge of the 49 men’s internationals and the list of appointments will see Australia’s Angus Gardner take charge of the opening Springboks-Ireland clash in Pretoria on July 6, with England’s Karl Dickson in the middle for the following weekend’s rematch in Durban.
Georgia’s Nika Amashukeli has been tasked with getting the All Blacks-England series underway in Dunedin on July 6, with Australia’s Nic Berry in charge for game two in Auckland seven days later.
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Amashukeli won’t be staying on in New Zealand for that rematch as he has been appointed for the second Wallabies versus Wales Test on July 13 in Melbourne, taking over from Pierre Brousset of France who has been pencilled in for the series opener in Sydney.
Meanwhile, Irish duo Chris Busby and Andrew Brace are the referees for the two-game Argentina versus France series.
A statement read: “The Emirates World Rugby Match Officials have been confirmed for the men’s June-July international window, the revamped Pacific Nations Cup and the World Rugby U20 Championship and U20 Trophy competitions.
“Thirty referees have been selected to take charge of 49 men’s internationals across the July window and Pacific Nations Cup, with a further 16 named on the panels for the U20 Championship and U20 Trophy.
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“Twenty-four nations – from Argentina to Zimbabwe – feature across the appointments as World Rugby advances its strategic pathway to identify, enable and develop high-performance talent in preparation for future Rugby World Cups.
“Luc Ramos (France) will take charge of the opening match of the June-July window, between Japan and England in Tokyo on 22 June, with Nic Berry (Australia) to referee the last match, the Pacific Nations Cup final in Osaka on 21 September.
“Berry and Hollie Davidson (Scotland) each have three Tests in total with the latter taking charge of Canada vs Romania on July 12, South Africa vs Portugal on July 20 and Japan vs USA in the Pacific Nations Cup on September 7.
“Davidson is one of three women appointed to Test matches with Kat Roche (USA) and Precious Pazani (Zimbabwe) selected as assistant referees. Roche will be assistant referee for Canada vs Romania (July 12) and Canada vs Japan on August 25, with Pazani selected for Namibia vs Portugal on July 13.
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“Meanwhile, Mathieu Raynal (France) will referee his 50th and final Test, having already announced his retirement. Raynal will be in the middle for Chile vs Scotland in Santiago on July 20 to become the fourth Frenchman and 13th official in total to referee 50 Tests.
“Kahlil Harrison (USA) is named as assistant referee for Canada vs Scotland on July 6 having recently been one of nine at the match officials academy in Stellenbosch, a key development platform for the next generation of aspiring international match officials.”
- Click here for the July/July Test match appointments
- Click here for the Pacific Nations Cup appointments
- Click here for the Junior World Championship refereeing panel
- And click here for the U20s Trophy panel
Dickson now considered the top ref in England it appears. Good that these series are getting one NH and one SH ref.
I’d have Luke Pearce and Matt Carley ahead of Dickson.