SA referee AJ Jacobs added to Vodacom Super Rugby panel

Jan 29 • General News, Super Rugby News • 1943 Views • Comments Off on SA referee AJ Jacobs added to Vodacom Super Rugby panel

South African referee AJ Jacobs is the only newcomer on the list of 17 referees for Vodacom Super Rugby for the 2018 edition of the competition, SANZAAR announced on Monday.

He joins former DHL Stormers wing Egon Seconds on the match official list, after his successful debut season last year. Apart from five South Africans, there are also seven New Zealanders, three Australians and one each from Japan and Argentina on the panel.

Joining Jacobs and Seconds on the panel from South Africa are the experienced Jaco Peyper, Rasta Rasivhenge and Marius van der Westhuizen. Two local referees, Stuart Berry and Quinton Immelman, were redeployed to the Guinness PRO14, while Jaco van Heerden retired from refereeing late last year.

“AJ is one of our most promising referees and I want to congratulate him on his appointment,” said Banks Yantolo, SA Rugby’s Manager of Referees.

“He is a dedicated match official and he fully deserves his Vodacom Super Rugby appointment. All our referees have worked very hard to be in good shape for the forthcoming season. In addition to the annual SANZAAR pre-season training camp, which took place in December in Stellenbosch, our referees also completed another local camp just a few days ago, to sharpen up their preparations for the coming season.”

2018 Vodacom Super Rugby referee panel:

Federico Anselmi (Argentina, 8 VSR matches)

Nic Berry (Australia, 10)

Nick Briant (New Zealand, 41)

Mike Fraser (New Zealand, 40)

Angus Gardner (Australia, 47)

Will Houston (Australia, 9)

AJ Jacobs (South Africa, 0)

Glen Jackson (New Zealand, 65)

Shuhei Kubo (Japan, 8)

Jamie Nutbrown (New Zealand, 8)

Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand, 24)

Jaco Peyper (South Africa, 82)

Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand, 12)

Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa, 8)

Egon Seconds (South Africa, 4)

Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa, 28)

Paul Williams (New Zealand, 11)

Brief profile of AJ Jacobs:

Born in Kimberley and a teacher by trade, AJ started refereeing while still a player, officiating high school matches.
Joined the Griffons Referees’ Society in 2010, progressed through the ranks and was promoted to the SA Rugby Premier Panel late last year.
Made his first class debut in 2015 in a provincial match between Border and the Valke, and had his first taste of Currie Cup Premier Division action later that year when he refereed the match between the Toyota Free State Cheetahs and Tafel Lager Griquas in Bloemfontein.