Chosen 10 referees for the World Cup
The International Rugby Board has announced the names of the 10 referees, seven assistant referees and four television match officials who will make up the match officials for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The 10 referees chosen are the same 10 referees who refereed in this year's Six Nations tournament.
For Jonathan Kaplan this will be his fourth World Cup.
There are two referees each from England, Ireland and South Africa, plus one each from Australia, France, New Zealand and Wales.
Many would not regard this as the panel of the top ten referees in the world as experienced referees have been omitted - Stuart Dickinson, Marius Jonker, Mark Lawrence and Alan Lewis.
A strong case could have been made for the inclusion of each of them. Clearly there is a limitation on the number of referees from each country, and two seems to be the ceiling. This would be in the interest of "neutrality" as clearly the principle of merit selection has not yet reached international level.
The choice of the 10 referees who refereed in the Six Nations suggests that the World Cup referees were really finalised by then.
That said, the IRB's announcement of the appointments says: "The selection was made after a comprehensive review of refereeing performances by the IRB Match Official Selection Committee, chaired by IRB Council Member David Pickering, at its meeting in Dublin on Tuesday and Wednesday."
The IRB also announced that the referee for the opening match between New Zealand and Tonga would be George Clancy of Ireland though the referees for the pool matches would not be made known till August.
The IRB's selection committee for referees: David Pickering (Wales, Chairman), Tappe Henning (South Africa), Kevin Bowring (England), Bob Francis (New Zealand), Stephen Hilditch (Ireland) and Michel Lamoulie (France). The IRB Referee Manager is Paddy O'Brien.
There are again no appointments for match officials from Scotland.
Match officials appointed:
Referees: Wayne Barnes (England), George Clancy (Ireland), Craig Joubert (South Africa), Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Nigel Owens (Wales), Dave Pearson (England), Romain Poite (France), Alain Rolland (Ireland), Steve Walsh (Australia).
Assistant Referees: Carlo Damasco (Italy), Jérôme Garces (France), Tim Hayes (Wales), Simon McDowell (Ireland), Vinny Munro (New Zealand), Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Stuart Terheege (England).
Reserve referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Jérôme Garces (France).
Television match officials: Giulio De Santis (Italy), Matt Goddard (Australia), Graham Hughes (England), Shaun Veldsman (South Africa).
The referees who were at the 2007 World Cup who are not there again: Stuart Dickinson (Australia), Paul Honiss (New Zealand), Joël Jutge (France), Marius Jonker (South Africa), Alan Lewis (Ireland), Tony Spreadbury (England), Chris White (England).