Welshman Nigel Owens is favourite to be named as referee the Rugby World Cup final following the appointments of Frenchman Jerome Garces and England's Wayne Barnes for the semi-finals.
Welsh rugby referee Nigel Owens Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Owens has been an international referee since 2005 and the 44-year-old officiated at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups. He took charge of this year's quarter-final between New Zealand and France.
Frenchman Garces will referee the All Blacks semi-final against the Springboks at Twickenham on Sunday morning and Barnes will be in charge of the Australia-Argentina semi on Monday morning.
The officials will be under even more pressure than usual following the controversy surrounding South African Craig Joubert's decision to award Australia a late penalty which sealed their 35-34 win over Scotland in the quarter-finals.
Organisers took the unusual step of announcing publicly that Joubert had made the wrong call and should have awarded the Wallabies a scrum.
- Reuters
