Match Officials Announced For Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013
Match Officials Announced For Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013
South Africans Marlize Jordaan, Rasta Rasivhenge and Marius van der Westhuizen are amongst the 17 match officials named for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow, the International Rugby Board announced on Wednesday.
The officials will preside over the 100 matches at the June showpiece.
Banks Yantolo has also been named as one of the official performance reviewers and former test referee Tappe Henning as an IRB selector for the event, providing South Africa with a strong presence in the Russian capital.
In total 20 nationalities are represented within the panel of 17 referees that will preside over the 58 men’s and 42 women’s matches. A further 23 dedicated assistant referees and in-goal assistants have also been selected by the IRB Match Official Selection Committee.
André Watson, GM: Referees, said: “Marius and Rasta delivered very strong performances during the HSBC World Series so far and both have handled Cup finals at some of those tournaments. Their appointments were hoped for and I am pretty confident that they will again deliver on the biggest stage of them all.”
“Marlize has consistently performed well in various tournaments over the world of late and her inclusion is great reward for her consistent and respected contributions,” Watson said.
With competition for places intense, the Committee considered all performances on the record-breaking HSBC Sevens World Series and the inaugural IRB Women’s Sevens World Series, which plays a key role in promoting the very best female referees.
The men’s panel features the cream of those performing on the Series and apart from the local duo include James McPhail (New Zealand); Anthony Moyes; Matthew O’Brien (both Australia); Federico Anselmi (Argentina); Rhys Thomas (Wales); Kevin White (Scotland) and Alexandre Ruiz (France). James Bolabiu (Fiji) is the only male panel member to have officiated in Dubai four years ago. The panel will be supported by 16 specialist assistant and in-goal Referees.
Jordaan is one of seven of the world’s top female referees to be selected in the panel – three more than for Dubai 2009. The others are Sherry Trumbull (Canada); Amy Perrett (Australia); Chelsea Gurr; Jess Beard (both New Zealand); Leah Berard (USA) and Gabriel Lee (Hong Kong), who took charge of a captivating women’s final in 2009. They will be supported by seven specialist assistant and in-goal Referees, completing a record panel of 14 female match officials selected for the event.
The seven female referees appointed to the tournament will take charge of matches in the Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens competition, which runs alongside the men’s.
Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 will bring together the finest men’s and women’s Sevens players in the world for a three-day festival of world-class sport, entertainment and hospitality at the iconic Luzhniki Stadium in the heart of the city.
Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “Planning and preparation is on track and Russia has a proud history of staging exceptional major sporting and cultural events. The Rugby Union of Russia and the Russian Government, in partnership with the IRB, are collaborating to deliver a world-class festival on and off the pitch. It will be a Rugby World Cup Sevens festival like no other.”
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