Irish official to take charge of URC final

The match official appointments for the United Rugby Championship Grand Final have been confirmed.

Andrew Brace, who represents the Irish Rugby Football Association, has been appointed as the match referee for this weekend’s URC final between the Stormers and the Bulls in Cape Town.

It is the second time Brace has been handed the responsibility for the league decider having held the whistle for the 2021 PRO14 final between Leinster and Ulster in Dublin.

Brace turns 34 ahead of this game and made his league debut in September 2015 when he took charge of the Cardiff Blues’ game against Zebre and since then has gone on to referee knock-out matches in the PRO14, EPCR Challenge Cup and the Heineken Champions Cup.

In 2018, the Irish official refereed his first Tier One fixture (Argentina v Wales), he was then appointed as an assistant referee for the 2019 Rugby World Cup and shortly afterwards he made his Six Nations debut in 2020 (France v Italy).

In addition to the URC final, Brace will also take charge of one of England’s three Test matches in Australia next month. For this weekend’s game Brace will be assisted by South Africans Jaco Peyper and AJ Jacobs.

DETAILS

Kick-off time: 7.30pm Saturday

Referee: Andy Brace (IRFU, 80th league game)

Assistants: Jaco Peyper and AJ Jacobs

TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen

TV: SuperSport, Premier Sports, RTÉ & URC TV