"VAN" (Sports Desk - 28.05.2026) :: With a month to go until the World Rugby Junior World Championship 2026 kicks off in Georgia, the Emirates Match Officials panel and appointments for the pool stage have been confirmed.
Fourteen unions are represented across the 12 referees and four Television Match Officials selected for the expanded age-grade tournament, which runs from 27 June to 18 July in Tbilisi and Kutaisi.
The selected referees are: Christopher Allison (South Africa), Kevin Bralley (France), Ruairidh Campbell (Scotland), Ben Connor (Wales), Gonzalo de Achaval (Argentina), Robbie Jenkinson (Ireland), Reuben Keane (Australia), Saba Makharadze (Georgia), Luke Rogan (USA), George Selwood (England), David Vosalevu (Fiji) and Morgan White (Hong Kong China, pictured).
Two have previous World Rugby U20 Championship experience in Keane and White, while Campbell joined the latter in refereeing at the World Rugby U20 Trophy in 2024 and Jenkinson made his test debut with two matches in the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
Highlighting the talent identification pathway, a further four have refereed across the HSBC SVNS Series in 2026 in White, Connor, Selwood and De Achaval.
Four TMOs complete the panel in Matt Rodden (Hong Kong China), Aled Griffiths (Wales), Paulo Duarte (Portugal) and Francisco González (Uruguay). Griffiths held the role in Italy last year, while the other three have all officiated at an Olympic Games and are now in the 15s pathway.
World Rugby Talent ID Manager and Tournament Referee Manager Johnny Lacey said: “The selection of this panel highlights the officials that are coming through our pathway system. It’s great to see all of World Rugby’s regional associations and regional competitions represented.
“I would like to thank the regional referee managers and regional competition managers for their work and commitment to developing these officials through their competitions.”
Saba Makharadze (Georgia) will referee the opening match in Tbilisi between Argentina and USA on 27 June, while Jenkinson will take charge of Italy v Scotland in the first match in Kutaisi.
The Junior World Championship match schedule
The world’s top 16 teams will play matches across two cities in Georgia with Tbilisi and Kutaisi hosting matches, just as they did when the tournament – then called the World Rugby U20 Championship – was held in the country in 2017.
South Africa are the defending champions after beating New Zealand in the 2025 final in Italy and the Junior Springboks also arrive as the U20 Rugby Championship winners, while France successfully defended their U20 Six Nations title earlier this year.
The expanded format see Fiji, USA, Japan and Uruguay joined the 12 teams from 2025 with teams split into four pools of four, two hosted by Tbilisi and two in Kutaisi.
The top teams in each pool will contest the semi-finals with their title dreams still alive, the four second-placed teams will play-off for fifth to eighth, the third-placed teams for ninth to 12th and the remaining four teams for 13th to 16th places.
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