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World Rugby referee boss Alain Rolland has confirmed that the 14 senior match officials set to run the rule over the Six Nations Championship will serve as the short-list for final World Cup selection. The list will be trimmed to 12 who will ultimately stand in the middle for the 2019 tournament in Japan.
The senior officials have been selected from France (4), New Zealand (3), England (3), Australia (2), South Africa (1), and Wales (1). Five referees have yet to appear at a World Cup with both Wayne Barnes and Nigel Owens set to take part in their fourth World Cup. Both have confirmed their intention to retire at the end of the 2019 tournament.
Each of the 14 nominated referees has been assigned to one Six Nations match with the exception of Australia’s Nic Berry who has been given two chances to prove himself. Final World Cup selection will come at the end of the tournament. The 2015 tournament featured 12 referees with 7 assistants, but with 6 assistants nominated for the Six Nations it appears likely that the 2019 tournament will have 8 assistants named.
Six different nations are represented in the Six Nations assistant list – one each from Argentina, England, France, Ireland, Japan, and New Zealand. Argentina’s Federico Anselmi is the only Americas representative and the only assistant with prior World Cup experience.
As well as the 14 referees and 6 assistants there are 7 television match officials named, with that list expected to be pared to four, the number used at the 2015 tournament. Four have served in previous World Cups with South Africa’s Marius Jonker the only TMO with senior referee experience at World Rugby’s flagship tournament.
REFEREES
| NAME | UNION | AGE | WORLD CUPS |
| Nic Berry | ARU | 34 | – |
| Angus Gardner | ARU | 34 | 2015 (AR) |
| Jérôme Garcès | FFR | 45 | 2011 (AR), 2015 |
| Pascal Gaüzère | FFR | 41 | 2015 |
| Romain Poite | FFR | 43 | 2011, 2015 |
| Mathieu Raynal | FFR | 37 | 2015 (AR) |
| Glen Jackson | NZRU | 43 | 2015 |
| Ben O’Keeffe | NZRU | 29 | – |
| Paul Williams | NZRU | 33 | – |
| Wayne Barnes | RFU | 39 | 2007, 2011, 2015 |
| Matthew Carley | RFU | 33 | – |
| Luke Pearce | RFU | 31 | – |
| Jaco Peyper | SARU | 38 | 2015 |
| Nigel Owens | WRU | 47 | 2007, 2011, 2015 |
ASSISTANT REFEREES
| NAME | UNION | AGE | WORLD CUPS |
| Alexandre Ruiz | FFR | 31 | – |
| Andrew Brace | IRFU | 30 | – |
| Shuhei Kubo | JRFU | 37 | – |
| Brendon Pickerill | NZRU | 29 | – |
| Karl Dickson | RFU | 36 | – |
| Federico Anselmi | UAR | 36 | 2015 (AR) |
TELEVISION MATCH OFFICIALS
| NAME | UNION | AGE | WORLD CUPS |
| Simon McDowell | IRFU | 50 | 2007 (AR), 2011 (AR) |
| Glenn Newman | NZRU | 43 | – |
| Ben Skeen | NZRU | 35 | 2015 (TMO) |
| David Grashoff | RFU | 64 | – |
| Graham Hughes | RFU | 59 | 2011 (TMO), 2015 (TMO) |
| Rowan Kitt | RFU | 50 | – |
| Marius Jonker | SARU | 50 | 2007 |
