World Rugby has announced that New Zealand’s Ben O’Keeffe, Andrew Piardi (Italy) and Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) will each take charge of a Lions Test match in the summer series against Australia. James Doleman (New Zealand) will referee the opening test of the July window, when the Aviva Stadium hosts a game between Andy Farrell’s Lions and Argentina on June 20th.
Richard Kelly (New Zealand), Eric Gauzins (France) and Marius Jonker (South Africa) are the three Television Match Officials (TMOs) selected.
O’Keeffe will referee the first Lions Test in Brisbane, Piardi the second in Melbourne and Amashukeli the final one in Sydney. The New Zealander O’Keeffe is the only one of the three who has previously presided over a Lions Test, which he did in the second one four years ago in South Africa.
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Piardi, who hit the headlines recently when incorrectly reducing Munster to 14 players in a URC match against the Bulls at Thomond Park, becomes the first Italian to referee a Lions Test, while Amashukeli is the first Georgian to have that honour.
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Six referees will take charge of matches on the Lions tour with James Doleman (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand) and Pierre Brousset (France) joining O’Keeffe, Piardi and Amashukeli.
Piardi will take charge of Ireland’s international against Georgia at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi on Saturday, July 5th, while a week later England’s Adam Leal will have the whistle as Ireland take on Portugal at the Estadio Nacional do Jamor in Lisbon on Saturday, July 12th.
Ireland’s Andrew Brace will referee Namibia v Italy in Windhoek and the second Test between South Africa and Italy at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, having run the line the previous week as the two countries meet in Pretoria.
Another Irishman Eoghan Cross will referee USA v England in Washington (July 19th) and will be an assistant referee in two further tests involving the Americans, against Spain and Belgium. He will also assist Hollie Davidson who presides over England’s game against France at Twickenham.
Olly Hodges is also on the World Rugby summer officiating roster at TMO and the man in the bunker respectively. Referees for the Under-20 World Cup in Italy will be confirmed over the next fortnight.
