England’s Wayne Barnes will take charge of Japan’s quarter-final against South Africa on Sunday on a weekend when the organisers have opted for experience following widespread criticism of the standard of officiating here.
World Rugby said at a media briefing that it was happy with the way games had been controlled after the opening round when officials and television match officials were criticised for being too lenient over high challenges.
A record number of players have been sent off and only six of the 20 teams escaped without a red or yellow card during the group stage.
The most experienced referee in the tournament, Nigel Owens, will control the match between New Zealand and Ireland on Saturday while the first quarter-final in Oita between England and Australia will have a Frenchman in charge, Jérôme Garcès.
He refereed England’s defeat to Wales in the 2015 World Cup at Twickenham, upsetting the hosts by regularly penalising them at the scrum in the second half. His compatriot Romain Poite had the whistle in their next match against Australia, so angering England’s coaching team than Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree were disciplined for rounding on assistant referees during the interval.
South Africa’s Jack Peyper, in his 50th Test, will referee Wales’ match against France in Oita. The last time he was in charge of them they beat England in Cardiff in this year’s Six Nations on their way to the grand slam.
