SA Ref Peyper to blow World Cup opening match

South African referee Jaco Peyper will have the honour of refereeing the opening
match at the 2015 Rugby World Cup when England host Fiji at Twickenham to kick
off the tournament.

The Rugby World Cup final kicks off on 18 September and the Rugby World Cup
final will be 44 days later on 31 October.

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.”

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