SANZAR announced their 18 referees for the 2013 Super Rugby season, the group of referees includes 5 new as well as the Argentinean Francisco Pastrana (who controlled his first Super Rugby match in 2012).
The group includes the Southern Hemisphere’s top performers, with Craig Joubert, Steve Walsh and Chris Pollock (returning from injury) heading up a strong team. “The recent form of some of our referees in the Test environment has given us an excellent senior group within the team.
We have also been able to include a healthy number of young referees ”They have been selected with an eye to the future, both for Super Rugby and Test rugby”.
The full Super Rugby Referee Team for 2013 is:
South Africa (6): Craig Joubert, Jaco Peyper, Jonathan Kaplan, Lourens van der Merwe, Stuart Berry, Jason Jaftha
New Zealand (6): Chris Pollock, Glen Jackson, Garratt Williamson, Jonathon White, Mike Fraser, Nick Briant
Australia (5): Steve Walsh, Andrew Lees, Angus Gardner, James Leckie, Rohan Hoffman
Argentina (1): Francisco Pastrana
December 19th, 2012 at 12:26 SAST
Lets hope the officials are more consistent next year, also good luck to the likes of Jafta, he is one of the better junior refs coming through the ranks
December 19th, 2012 at 12:29 SAST
Now Lourens VD Merwe I am not so sure about??? I think young Rasta is a better ref and keeps up with play better
December 19th, 2012 at 12:42 SAST
@ Sharks_forever:
Agree, Rasta is a very good ref. Just hope he does not let the occassion get the better of him.
December 19th, 2012 at 15:54 SAST
Congrats to Jaftha. Agree with everyone here, he is one of the better refs so pleased for him that he will ref in S15 next year. Tell you what he take no nonsense, as small as he is he demands respect. I like that about him. Good ref. Always looks not a day older than 17 years old…….hahaha. There is another ref that is just as good, just forget his name, he too don’t look a day older than 17. Reffed in the 7′s in PE this year. Think he reffed Sharks against Province in our pool game on the day it was pouring down. Just forget his name, but he too should eventually be reffing in Super Rugby. Think it was that game he reffed, unless it was against the Bulls in the semi not too sure which game but was one of those.