New Zealand referee Ben O’Keeffe will take charge of South Africa’s opening clash of 2023, the Springboks’ sold-out Rugby Championship clash against Australia in Pretoria.

O’Keeffe will blow the blockbuster match at Loftus Versfeld on July 8, while Mathieu Raynal from France is appointed to call the mouth-watering duel between the Boks and the All Blacks in Auckland on July 15.

Irishman Andrew Brace will take charge of his first of two Boks Tests this year in the final Test in the truncated competition against Argentina in Johannesburg on July 29.

Nika Amashukeli from Georgia will preside over the first of the Boks’ three Rugby World Cup warm-ups, against Argentina in Buenos Aires on August 5, with Brace officiating against Wales in Cardiff on August 19, and Englishman Matthew Carley taking the whistle for the highly-anticipated match against the All Blacks at Twickenham on August 25.

South Africans Jaco Peyper and Marius Jonker were also handed a number of appointments for the international season. Peyper will officiate Australia and Argentina in Sydney (July 15), where Jonker will be on TMO duty, and two World Cup warm-ups between Georgia and the US (August 19) and England vs Fiji (August 26).

Jonker will also serve as the TMO in the Bledisloe Cup Test in Dunedin on August 5.