SANZAR has announced the referee appointments for the Super Rugby Qualifying playoffs to be held this coming weekend on Saturday the 21st of July 2012.

With the Super Rugby regular season coming to an exciting close in South Africa, the Australian Conference winning Reds and the top wildcard qualifying Crusaders will host the Sharks and the Bulls respectively.

SANZAR Game Manager Lyndon Bray said the appointments were made after a full season analysis of each official, which in turn saw referees rewarded with strong performances throughout the campaign.

"We are delighted to announce that Jaco (Peyper) and Jonathan (Kaplan) will referee the first matches in this season's Super Rugby Finals Series," Bray said.

Bray said that the final appointments consider three key criteria -the overall performance, accuracy of the big calls and the 'right fit for the game'.

"Referees were reviewed against their overall performance, which takes into consideration their consistency over the whole competition, and form at this latter stage of the competition."

2012 Super Rugby Finals Series

Super Rugby Qualifiers (Play offs) referee appointments

Match No.121:Crusaders versus Bulls
Date Saturday 21 July, 2012
Venue : AMI Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand
Kick Off local: (1935 local, 1935 NZT, 1735 NSW/ACT, 0935SAT, 0735 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Ref 1:Keith Brown
Assistant Ref 2:Glen Jackson
TMO : Garratt Williamson

Match No.122:Reds versus Sharks
Date Saturday 21 July, 2012
Venue : Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
Kick Off local: (1940 local, 2140 NZT, 1940 NSW/ACT, 1140SAT, 0940 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant Ref 1:Craig Joubert
Assistant Ref 2: James Leckie
TMO : Matt Goddard