World Rugby has announced the 12-member panel that will referee at Rugby World Cup 2015 as well as the 7 Assistant Referees and 4 Television Match Officials who will also officiate in matches at the game’s showcase tournament, which starts on 18 September 2015.

France will provide 3 referees in the form of Jérôme Garcès, Romain Poite and Pascal Gauzere. New Zealand, South Africa, England and Ireland will provide 2 each with 1 from the Welsh Rugby Union.

The Rugby World Cup runs from 18 September to 31 October 2015.

There will be 48 matches in the tournament.

The selection was made after a comprehensive review of refereeing performances by the World Rugby Match Official Selection Committee.

Chairman of the selection panel John Jeffrey said: “I want to congratulate all 12 Referees, the 7 AR’s and 4 TMO’s, who through very hard work and determination, have made it onto the panel for this year’s Rugby World Cup.

The individual match appointments will be announced in due course.

The full list of Referees with their union and number of tests in brackets is:

• Wayne Barnes (RFU, 57)
• George Clancy (IRFU, 38)
• JP Doyle (RFU, 12)
• Jérôme Garcès (FFR, 22)
• Pascal Gauzere (FFR, 17)
• Glen Jackson (NZR, 10)
• Craig Joubert (SARU, 55)
• John Lacey (IRFU, 13)
• Nigel Owens (WRU, 60)
• Jaco Peyper (SARU, 20)
• Romain Poite (FFR, 39)
• Chris Pollock (NZR, 18)

In addition, the full list of Assistant Referees with their union and number of tests as AR in brackets is:

• Federico Anselmi (UAR, 5)
• Stuart Berry (SARU, 15)
• Mike Fraser (NZR, 10)
• Angus Gardner (ARU, 2)
• Leighton Hodges (WRU, 19)
• Marius Mitrea (FIR, 13)
• Mathieu Raynal (FFR, 9)

The Television Match Officials for the 6-week tournament with their union and number of tests as TMO in brackets are:

• George Ayoub (ARU, 33)
• Graham Hughes (RFU, 60)
• Ben Skeen (NZR, 11)
• Shaun Veldsman (SARU, 50)

“Since Rugby World Cup 2011, we have been focused on developing a strong panel that can preside over the 48 matches at this year’s tournament. The fact that 7 of the referee panel were involved in the 2011 tournament points to the big-match experience that they hold. Indeed, between the 12 of them, they have refereed no fewer than 361 internationals.

“The 5 referees who were not at RWC 2011 have done very well to progress through their own pathways, in SANZAR, in Europe and from the World Rugby Under 20 Championship, to make it to the biggest stage of all. The focus for all these match officials at this point is on consistency and performing at the highest level.”