Match Officials Announced for 2017 Super Rugby Final

SANZAAR has announced the match official appointments for the Super Rugby final on Saturday 5 August at Emirates Airlines Park, Johannesburg, between the Lions and Crusaders.

The match referee will be Jaco Peyper who refereed the semi-final between the Lions and Hurricanes. The assistant referees will be Glen Jackson, who refereed the Crusaders versus Chiefs semi-final and Marius van der Westhuizen. The Television Match Official (TMO) is Marius Jonker. The match kicks-off in Johannesburg at 1600 local time.

Commenting on the appointments, SANZAAR CEO Andy Marinos said, “SANZAAR congratulates Jaco Peyper and all the match officials selected to this year’s final. The match official selection is never easy as we have a very dedicated group of officials who week in week out perform very professionally and to very high standards.”

“The selection criteria for all match official appointments for the last two years follows a clear tournament policy - as agreed by the SANZAAR Executive Committee and the tournament’s stakeholders – that such appointments be merit-based.”

“This policy is written into the tournament protocols and appointments are made according to this policy on a weekly basis and is also the policy used for the finals last year as well as this year.”

“This merit-based policy was reflected with the appointment last year of New Zealand referee Glen Jackson to referee the Hurricanes versus Lions final in Wellington. SANZAAR stands behind the policy and believes the best referees should be available to officiate the best matches,” added Marinos.

SANZAAR makes no mention however of how the merit-based selection policy works.

2017 Super Rugby Final Match Officials

Match Referee: Jaco Peyper

Assistant Referee (1): Glen Jackson

Assistant Referee (2): Marius van der Westhuizen

Television Match Official (TMO): Marius Jonker.