Referees for Lions’ Tests against New Zealand revealed

French referees Romain Poite and Jérôme Garcès and South Africa's Jaco Peyper will preside over the Lions' three Test series against New Zealand this summer.

The 36-year-old Peyper – he wouldn’t be very popular with Ireland supporters for the manner in which he refereed the match against the All Blacks in the Aviva stadium last November – is a veteran of 36 internationals and will take charge of the first Test at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday June 24th. He will also referee the Lions’ match against the New Zealand Maori.

A week later, Garcès (37 Tests), who refereed Ireland's recent victory over England in the Six Nations, will take charge of the second Test in Wellington, with Poite (53 Tests) refereeing the third and final match of the series back in Auckland on Saturday July 8th.

Frenchmen Pascal Gauzere and Mathieu Raynal and Australia's Angus Gardner will take charge of most of the provincial games.

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The referees for Ireland’s summer tour to the USA and Japan were also confirmed. England’s Luke Pearce will take charge of the game against the US Eagles while Mathieu Raynal and JP Doyle will respectively preside over the first and second Tests against Japan.