SANZAR MEDIA RELEASE - Super 14 Merit Panel Referees

SANZAR has named nine referees on its inaugural Merit Panel of officials to take charge of next season’s Super 14 matches.

The group will control at least 75 percent of matches in the tournament while a back-up panel of seven referees has been selected to officiate when Six Nations appointments, injury or unavailability make Merit Panel officials unavailable.

SANZAR took the ground-breaking step of establishing a panel founded on merit before nationality in November. It means referees will no longer be prevented from refereeing their countrymen in opposition to another nation. The move was made to ensure the best players would be refereed by the best officials.

The Merit Panel is made of four South Africans, three Australians and two New Zealanders.

Changes may be made to the Panel during the season depending on the outcome of regular assessments by the referees’ selectors.

Merit panel (Alphabetical order):

Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Matt Goddard (Australia), Marius Jonker (South Africa), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Mark Lawrence (South Africa), James Leckie (Australia), Steve Walsh (New Zealand).

Shadow Panel (Alphabetical):

Paul Marks (Australia), Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Ian Smith (Australia).

Reserve Bench (Alphabetical)

Phillip Bosch (South Africa), Keith Brown (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Nathan Pearce (Australia).