Jaco Peyper is a former South African Rugby Union referee. Peyper rose through the ranks in South Africa quickly, making his

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

debut in 2008 while still in his 20s. In 2011 he was named as an official for the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. This included the final between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where New Zealand won 33-22. In 2012, Peyper was promoted to the International Rugby Board's elite panel and was tasked with refereeing Scotland's 2012 tour of Oceania. This included

Scotland's Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

6-9 away win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, 25-37 away win over

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

and 16-17 away win over

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. He was also referee for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

clash in Round 5 of the

2012 Rugby Championship The 2012 Rugby Championship was the inaugural annual rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and Argentina. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as ''The Castle Rugby Champ ...

. In 2015, Peyper was selected as one of the twelve referees for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. In 2019, Peyper was selected as one of the twelve referees and only South African referee for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. On 20 October 2019, Peyper was the referee for the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-final between

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and sent off France's Sébastien Vahaamahina for an elbow. After the match a photograph emerged on social media showing him posing with Wales fans with his elbow on the head of one of the fans and he was not considered for a World Cup semi-final the week after. Peyper was selected to referee the drawcard opening match of the 2023 RWC held on 9 September 2023, between the host nation France and New Zealand. At the time of the match, the two teams had world rankings of 3 and 4 respectively. On the 19 January 2024 Peyper announced his retirement from refereeing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peyper, Jaco 1980 births Living people South African rugby union referees Super Rugby referees SARU referees Currie Cup referees The Rugby Championship referees Rugby World Cup referees Six Nations Championship referees