Lions

The International Rugby Board has announced the names of the match officials for the 10-match Lions' tour of South Africa, starting on 30 May, 2009.

For the Tests the principle of "neutrality" has been applied which means that only five of the 17 referees on the International Panel were eligible - Bryce Lawrence, Christophe Berdos, Stuart Dickinson, Matt Goddard and Romain Poite.

Joël Jutge was not available because of injury.

The three chosen, one for each Test, are Bryce Lawrence, Christophe Berdos and Stuart Dickinson.

IRB Referee Manager Paddy O’Brien said: "We met with the Lions and South Africa team management last month and all were in favour of the appointment of neutral match officials for the Test series.

“Bryce, Christophe and Stuart are all highly experienced members of the IRB’s High Performance Referee Panel with nearly 80 internationals between them. They are relishing the opportunity to take their place in Lions history.”

The seven non-international matches are to be refereed by a mixture of referees from South Africa and the four Home Unions. They have the choice of 12 referees for those seven matches.

The appointments are as follows:

30 May:

Highveld XV vs Lions at Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Touch judges: tba (South Africa), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Arrie Schoonwinkel (South Africa)

3 June:

Golden Lions vs Lions at Coca Cola Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)

6 June:

Free State Cheetahs vs Lions at Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch judges: tba (South Africa), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)

10 June:

Sharks vs Lions at Absa Park, Durban
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Arrie Schoonwinkel (South Africa)

13 June:

Western Province vs Lions at Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)

16 June:

Coastal XV vs Lions at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch judges: Alain Rolland (Ireland), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)

20 June:

South Africa vs Lions (1st Test) at Absa Park, Durban
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Stuart Dickinson, Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official: Christophe Berdos (France)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)

23 June:

Emerging Springboks vs Lions at Newlands, Cape Town
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Nigel Owens (Wales), tba (South Africa)
Television match official: tba (South Africa)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)

27 June:

South Africa vs Lions (2nd Test) at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
Touch judges: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)

4 July:

South Africa vs Lions (3rd Test) at Coca Cola Park, Johannesburg
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Christophe Berdos, Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
Television match official: Bryce Lawrence(France)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)