Rugby World Cup 2015 Match official appointments made for pool stage

South Africa’s Jaco Peyper will have the honour of refereeing the opening match at Rugby World Cup 2015 in England as the hosts take on Fiji at Twickenham to kick off 44 days of unmissable rugby action.

Peyper, who is 35 and has refereed 20 internationals to date, has been appointed to the game on 18 September and he will be joined by assistant referees John Lacey of Ireland and Stuart Berry of South Africa while another South African, Shaun Veldsman, will be television match official.

With a further seven matches taking place over the subsequent two days, there is no time for the match officials to ease their way into the tournament gently with no fewer than 22 of the 23 officials involved in some capacity that first weekend.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MATCH OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS FOR THE POOL STAGE >>

Chairman of the World Rugby Match Officials Selection Committee John Jeffrey said: “With just 79 days to go, the eyes of the sports-loving world are now turning towards Rugby World Cup and as the players look forward to taking to the field in September, the same is true for the team of match officials. This is what they have been building up to over the past four years and their preparation has been excellent.

“Refereeing is a very demanding discipline, both physically and mentally, so just like the teams, they will have to be at the very top of their game if they are to feature in the closing stages of the tournament.

“Rugby World Cup is the biggest stage of all in our game so for these match officials to have been selected in the first place is a great honour and a recognition of their talent, their hard work and their commitment. As such, they can all be very proud of their achievements and I wish them all every success during the tournament.”

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THE MATCH OFFICIALS ARE PREPARING FOR RWC 2015 >>

The appointments for the knock-out stages will be made after the pool stage.

The World Rugby match officials at Rugby World Cup 2015 are sponsored by Emirates.

About Rugby World Cup: Rugby World Cup is the financial engine behind unprecedented investment and growth in rugby worldwide. The net Rugby World Cup surplus from the commercial success of France 2007 and New Zealand 2011 has enabled World Rugby to invest more than £150 million in the game between 2009 and 2012 and commit an anticipated injection of more than £180 million between 2013 and 2016 to underwrite a large range of major funding initiatives including annual national union grants and strategic investments focusing on growing participation and increasing competition across all 120 national member unions affiliated to World Rugby.

About England 2015: Rugby World Cup 2015, hosted in England between 18 September and 31 October, will be a celebration of rugby and its unique character-building values, exciting and inspiring the nation and the world to play and support the game. England Rugby 2015 are the organising committee for Rugby World Cup 2015 and will deliver the six-week tournament, hosted in 10 English cities and in Cardiff, Wales. Thirteen match venues will play host to the 48 games that will celebrate and engage more than two million spectators, including more than 400,000 international travelling fans.

Tackle Hunger: Tackle Hunger is a partnership between World Rugby and its official humanitarian partner, the UN World Food Programme, which highlights the importance of good nutrition not just to play rugby but to enable children to develop both physically and mentally. For Rugby World Cup 2015, the Tackle Hunger Million Meal Challenge aims to generate one million meals for the WFP school feeding programme to help nourish the bodies and minds of the world’s hungry children. A series of planned activations including profile-raising events, donation opportunities, social media activity and in-stadia messaging is encouraging the rugby family to take up the challenge to help build a brighter future for undernourished children. To find out more, click HERE.