Referees for Lions Tests revealed

Two French referees and a South African will take charge of the British and Irish Lions’ Tests against world champions New Zealand this summer.

World Rugby confirmed that 36-yearold South African official Jaco Peyper will control the first Test on June 24 in Auckland.

Jerome Garces, who refereed England’s Six Nations clash with Ireland in Dublin last weekend, has been appointed to the second Test in Wellington seven days later.

Garces’ countryman Romain Poite will be man in the middle at Auckland’s Eden Park on July 8.

It will be a second successive Lions Test series appearance for Poite, who controlled the third and deciding 2013 contest against Australia in Sydney.

Romain Poite: referee for the third Test.