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Francisco González and Caua Ricardo Santos have been named by World Rugby on the panel for the upcoming Junior World Trophy. Taking place from August 29 to September 10 the tournament will take place in Montevideo.
The two officials are from South American – González is from Uruguay and Santos is Brazilian. Their appointments are an important part of the growing expansion underway within the region.
The tournament is a pat for officials to higher honors. As evidenced by the Americas Rugby Championship the need for officials is higher than ever before. With the tournament having all matches refereed in the English language the Junior World Trophy is a vital opportunity for González and Santos.
González has been named as a senior official for the tournament while Santos will officiate as an assistant. The appointment of González marks the third time in which an Uruguayan has had the opportunity. The first was Gustavo Gerbasi who participated in the 2008 tournament in Chile. Joaquín Montes was an official the following year, in what was the second of the tournament’s history. He also officiated in 2011 in Georgia, including the final. In 2014 he refereed in the Junior World Championship in New Zealand.
The 26-year-old González has been an international official since 2013. In 2014 and 2015 he officiated matches in the South American Junior Championship. Earlier this year he officiated the Sudamérica Rugby Cup Final. In Rugby 7’s he has experience at Olympics Qualifiers, Juegos Odesur 2014, World University Rugby Sevens Championship 2014 and the Rugby Americas North 2015 tournament.
REFEREE PANEL
Maxime Burlet (FBRB / Belgium), Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU / Japan), Stephen Copeman (HKRFU / Hong Kong), Francisco González (URU / Uruguay), Andrea Piardi (FIR / Italy)
ASSISTANT REFERES
Ionut Bodea (FRR / Romania), Tornike Gvirjishvili (GRU / Georgia), Caua Ricardo Santos (CBRu / Brazil)
PERFORMANCE REVIEWERS
Andy Clift (SRU / Scotland), Domenico Sironi (FIR / Italy)
