Referee Pascal Gauzere

Referee Pascal Gauzere was born in 1977 in Montfort-en-Chalosse, a commune in south-west France. Gauzere’s introduction to refereeing came while serving a several-week suspension as a player, before making the switch permanent when he was 25. His quick rise through the French refereeing ranks eventually led to Gauzere’s Top 14 debut in 2006.

Two Junior World Championship appointments in 2009 and 2010 included Gauzere refereeing the U20 final between Australia and New Zealand. Later in 2010, Gauzere’s senior test debut came when taking charge of Georgia v Canada. Significantly, Pascal Gauzere was also the referee for “The Final Challenge” between Barbarians and South Africa in 2010.

His Six Nations bow came in the 2011 fixture between Ireland and Scotland. He has been a regular referee in the championship ever since, offering a high level of experience.

Appointments for both the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cups proves the Frenchman’s reputation, despite surpassing the age of 40 in 2017.

However, Gauzere has come in for some criticism during his refereeing career, most notably in 2019. A summer 2019 fixture between Wales and England led to Eddie Jones claiming that Gauzere should’ve been shown a yellow card for his performance. As sin-binned Anthony Watson was leaving the field, Wales went on to score a try after taking a quick penalty. Although within the laws of the game, Jones was unhappy with the decision, feeling aggrieved by the Frenchman’s decision.