Jaco Peyper retires: 67-test referee hangs up the whistle

Referee Jaco Peyper at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Photo / AP

Test rugby referee Jaco Peyper has retired, in part because of a lingering Achilles tendon injury.

Peyper called time on a 12-year test career including three Rugby World Cups, a day after the Achilles injury forced him to withdraw as the referee for the Six Nations match in March between Italy and Scotland.

The South African was hurt in October, just 12 minutes into the World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and Wales in Marseille.

Peyper controlled 67 tests, sixth most on the all-time list. They included 14 World Cup matches. After a 2019 quarterfinal where he sent off France lock Sebastien Vahaamahina and Wales won, Peyper had to apologise for mocking Vahaamahina’s foul in a photo with Wales fans.

He also whistled in nine Rugby Championships and 10 Six Nations. He reffed three Super Rugby finals and was the first South African to referee the European Cup final last year.

“Above all the accolades, he is a great person,” World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said in tribute.

“He cares deeply about the game and championing his fellow match officials. He has played a huge role in the development of burgeoning international referees and is a calm, assured presence within a great team. It takes a special type of person to be at the top of their game in the most challenging of arenas, and Jaco has done that superbly. In short, he is a credit to rugby, his nation and his family.”

The 43-year-old Peyper said he was going to focus on being an attorney.

“I literally grew up next to the rugby field as my dad was a coach, and later on I played and coached the game before I took up the opportunity to go into refereeing,” he said. “There are always tough times at high-end refereeing, but since making my first-class debut 17 years ago, rugby has only been good to me.”