World Rugby has announced their panel of referees and match officials for the Rugby World Cup group stages in France.

Georgia’s Nika Amashukeli is amongst the list of 12 referees – with four from the Gallagher Premiership roster listed – while a female official is part of the wider match officials group at a World Cup for the first time ever, with Ireland’s Joy Neville going as a TMO. And fellow TMO Ben Whitehouse follows father Nigel to a World Cup, with the older Whitehouse an assistant referee and TMO at the World Cup in 2003.

We will know which of these officials made the cut for the knock-out rounds of the tournament on the Tuesday after the last group stages match is played.

Referees for Rugby World Cup in France

Referees

Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Wayne Barnes (England)
Nic Berry (Australia)
Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Matthew Carley (England)
Karl Dickson (England)
Angus Gardner (Australia)
Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Luke Pearce (England)
Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Mathieu Raynal (France)
Paul Williams (New Zealand)

Assistant Referees

Chris Busby (Ireland)
Pierre Brousset (France)
James Doleman (New Zealand)
Craig Evans (Wales)
Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Christophe Ridley (England)
Jordan Way (Australia)

Television Match Officials (TMOs)

Brett Cronan (Australia)
Tom Foley (England)
Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Brian MacNeice (Ireland)
Joy Neville (Ireland)
Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

Who refereed the 2019 World Cup final?

You may be wondering who the Rugby World Cup referees were for previous finals.

In 2019, at the Yokohama Stadium, Jérôme Garcès (France) had the whistle for South Africa’s 32-12 victory over England. And Garcès will be at World Cup 2023 too, but in a different capacity – the former referee is now part of Fabien Galthie‘s backroom team with the French national team.

Here is a list of the previou Rugby World Cup final referees:

2019: Jérôme Garcès (France)

2015: Nigel Owens (Wales)

2011: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

2007: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

2003: André Watson (South Africa)

1999: André Watson (South Africa)

1995: Ed Morrison (England)

1991: Derek Bevan (Wales)

1987: Kerry Fitzgerald (Australia)

Remember, the referees and assistants for all matches have to be neutral – they cannot be aligned to the same union as either of the competing sides – and this must be the case for the final.

When the panel of match officials are named for the Rugby world Cup, we will update this page to include them. And we will be updating the list of referees throughout the tournament as we head into the knock-out rounds of action.

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