Australian referee Angus Gardner has been appointed to referee the Super Rugby Final this Saturday, SANZAAR has announced.

“In line with match official appointments for the tournament the selection of the match referees for the Finals Series have been merit-based and have included input from the team head coaches,” SANZAAR said in a statement.

“It is Gardner’s maiden Super Rugby Final appointment and is reward for his high quality performances throughout the season.”

The 33-year-old referee made his Super Rugby debut in 2012 when he refereed the Reds against the Rebels in Brisbane.

He is now one of the most experienced Super Rugby referees, taking charge of 60 Super Rugby matches and in 2018 he has taken charge of 13 matches.

Gardner broke through at senior Test level in 2016 and during 2017 refereed in all the major Test match windows, including appointments in the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship.

He has refereed 13 Test matches and has been appointed to referee two Rugby Championship Tests this year – Argentina versus South Africa and South Africa versus New Zealand.

The assistant referees are Glen Jackson and Nic Berry and the television match official is Shane McDermott.

Former Chiefs and Saracens flyhalf Jackson, who has had an excellent tournament, must have been close to getting the nod but the fact that he is from New Zealand would have played a part in him missing out.

The two teams in the final are the Crusaders from New Zealand and the Lions from South Africa, giving Aussie Gardner the advantage of neutrality.

No room has been found for referee Ben O’Keeffe or TMOs Ben Skeen or George Ayoub who were caught up in controversy earlier in the tournament.

Super Rugby Final

Crusaders [1] v Lions [2] @ AMI Stadium, Christchurch

Date: Saturday August 4

Kick-off: 19:35 local (11:35 UAE time)

Referee: Angus Gardner

AR1:        Glen Jackson

AR2:       Nic Berry

TMO:      Shane McDermott