Rugby World Cup 2023: Wayne Barnes to referee Rugby World Cup final for first time

Wayne Barnes, the most experienced referee in the history of Test rugby, is set to take charge of the Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and South Africa, Telegraph Sport understands.

It is thought that Barnes will be supported by Tom Foley, a Premiership colleague, as television match official (TMO) as the All Blacks and the Springboks vie to become the first nation to lift the World Cup for the fourth time.

An official announcement on the assistant referees for the decider, as well as the officials for the third-place play-off between England and Argentina, will be delayed to give Jaco Peyper as much time as possible to recover from a calf injury.

This represents a boon for the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership and Barnes becomes the second Englishman, behind Ed Morrison in 1995, in the only other decider between New Zealand and South Africa, to referee a World Cup final.

Barnes, 44, is appearing in his fifth consecutive World Cup campaign since his debut in 2007 and has refereed in the last week of each of those tournaments.

Wayne Barnes gestures during the Rugby World Cup quarter-final between Ireland and New Zealand at Stade de France. Photo / Getty Images

Barnes has history with the All Blacks and was voted the third most hated man in New Zealand after overseeing their exit from the 2007 World Cup in a controversial quarter-final. However, he also took charge of New Zealand’s 28-24 win over Ireland just over a fortnight ago in what was his fourth quarter-final to go with a semi-final in 2015, between Argentina and Australia, and two third-place play-off games in 2011 and 2019.

His final appointment, following Jérôme Garcès in 2019 and Nigel Owens four years before that as the man in the middle for a World Cup final, also means that he will referee South Africa for the first time since a 29-28 loss to France last November in Marseille.

Following that encounter, which was a record-breaking 101st Test for Barnes, he and his family were subjected to abuse on social media after Rassie Erasmus appeared to question his decisions in a series of video clips posted on Twitter, the platform now known as X.

In an interview for The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Barnes explained that threats of sexual violence had been made against his children and subsequently admitted that he had considered hanging up his whistle. However, he persevered and has been rewarded with the top honour in refereeing.

The cohort of World Cup officials has been hit with injuries over the knockout rounds, with Peyper hurting his calf during the quarter-final between Wales and Argentina, and having to be replaced by assistant Karl Dickson.

Days later, Andrew Brace suffered a similar injury and needed to pull out of touchline duty for England’s meeting with South Africa. Raynal was called up instead.