SA Rugby has created a new “elite” referees panel to better prepare South African officials to make the step up to international level – which will be overseen by former Test referee Jaco Peyper.

The former “National Panel” has been split into two separate panels – Elite and National – to streamline the way in which match officials are prepared for officiating at international, franchise, provincial or club level.

“The idea behind this is to allow more specific work to be done with the match officials on the different panels, while we’ve also done away with our women’s panel as they are now part of the two new panels” said Banks Yantolo, General Manager of Referees at SA Rugby.

“The six referees and two reserves on the Elite Panel will be mentored by Jaco Peyper, who was a referee in 67 Tests during his career and has valuable insights to share. Another former Test referee and current TMO Marius Jonker will be their coach.

“The National Panel will be guided by Mark Lawrence and Deon van Blommestein, and it’s their task to prepare the next generation of referees for the Elite Panel.”

Yantolo added that SA Rugby’s talent identification programme within the 15 provincial referee societies was also bearing fruit.

“We were able to achieve our objectives of bringing through young and talented referees with a long runway on their side, as they are typically aged between 22 and 26 years old,” he said.

“Six referees were promoted from their provinces onto the National Panel – Charlwen Daries, Excellent Mnkomo, Caleb Hibbert and Juan de Bod, as well as two women’s referees in Siyanda Pikoli and Angie Bezuidenhout.”

The SA Rugby Match Official Panels for 2025 are:

Elite Panel: Christopher Allison, Aimee Barrett-Theron, Griffin Colby, Morne Ferreira, AJ Jacobs, Marius van der Westhuizen.Reserves: Sean Muller, Hanru van Rooyen.

National Panel: Angie Bezuidenhout, Daniel Canhenga, Hernus Coetzee, Charlwen Daries, Juan de Bod, Stephan Geldenhuys, Caleb Hibbert, Cwengile Jadezweni, Jonathan Lottering, Lulutho Matomela, Phumzile Mbewu, Paul Mente, Excellent Mnkomo, Zoe Naude, Dylen November, Siyanda Pikoli, Eon van Zyl, Giana Viljoen.

Television Match Official Panel: Ben Crouse, Christie du Preez, Quinton Immelman, Marius Jonker, Archie Sehlako, Egon Seconds.