Jerome Garces to ref Final - Wayne Barnes to ref Bronze Final

The following from News24:-

" Frenchman Jerome Garces has been appointed as referee for Saturday's Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and England in Yokohama.

Kick-off is scheduled for 11:00 (SA time).

Garces will be assisted by compatriot Romain Poite and New Zealand's Ben O'Keeffe, with another Kiwi, Ben Skeen, the television match official (TMO).

Garces will be the first Frenchman to take charge of a Rugby World Cup final and is a familiar face for the Springboks.

He was the referee in their 19-16 semi-final win over Wales last weekend, as well as the 23-13 defeat to New Zealand earlier in the tournament.

The Springboks do not boast the best record under Garces, having won five and lost 10 of the Tests he's officiated for them.

Garces told the official Rugby World Cup website that he was "honoured and delighted" to be appointed to referee the final.

"It is a dream as a referee, but this is a team sport, and as a team of four, we will be out there to do the best for the teams, the fans, the sport, but also the entire match officials team, selectors and support team, who have worked so hard over the last four years, culminating in Rugby World Cup 2019."

Meanwhile, World Rugby named England's Wayne Barnes as referee for Friday's bronze final between New Zealand and Wales in Tokyo (11:00 SA time).

Barnes will be assisted by South Africa's Jaco Peyper and France's Pascal Gauzere, with South Africa's Marius Jonker the TMO.

World Rugby added that the appointments were made after a comprehensive review of the weekend's semi-finals by its Match Officials Selection Committee comprising chairperson Anthony Buchanan (council member), Joel Jutge (EPCR), Lyndon Bray (SANZAAR), Nick Mallett (former Springbok and Italy coach) and Alain Rolland (World Rugby).

World Rugby chairperson Bill Beaumont commented: "This has been one of the great Rugby World Cups, perhaps the greatest and there is significant excitement ahead of what promises to be an exceptional final between two former champions - England and South Africa.

"Our match officials have played their full role in this special tournament and I would like to congratulate Jerome and the team on their appointments, which are thoroughly deserved. I would like to wish them all the best for what promises to be a very exciting finale to Rugby World Cup 2019."

Previous Rugby World Cup final referees:

1987 - Kerry Fitzgerald (AUS)
1991 - Derek Bevan (WAL)
1995 - Ed Morrison (ENG)
1999 - Andre Watson (RSA)
2003 - Andre Watson (RSA)
2007 - Alain Rolland (IRE)
2011 - Craig Joubert (RSA)
2015 - Nigel Owens (WAL)"

I expect a bit of a mess here - Garces is bound to favour England and Barnes is not popular in New Zealand and likely to favour Wales.

Oh shit .

Rooi, if you read through the SA/Wales match thread, you you'll see that some of the "ref-bashers" actually said that Jerome was having a good/fair match...and that there wasn't serious complaints. I see someone in the British press had a go at Garces though.

I for one hope that he can repeat that solid performance...odd that we should draw him in almost half our matches at the RWC...the referee with witch the Boks have the poorest record...odd is a bit of an understatement too. Pity that Owens wasn't picked for the final though. Clearly the best ref in the world at present.