Referee Wayne Barnes will be in charge of the Springboks’ vital Pool B match against Italy at Shizuoka Stadium on Friday.
The Boks have won 10 out of 13 Tests in which the Englishman has officiated, but Springbok forwards coach Matt Proudfoot believes this statistic has not influenced the team’s preparations for the clash.
‘We’ve got a good record with him because he is as very good referee,’ said Proudfoot.
‘He makes good decisions; he is a clear communicator. When you have a referee like that you can have a good record with him.’
Barnes was the man in the middle for the Boks’ 23-19 quarter-final victory over Wales four years ago at Twickenham.
‘He likes a bit of a challenge at the breakdown but as I said last week, every referee has got their own idiosyncrasies about how he sees the challenge,’ added Proudfoot.
‘And that’s fine and we accept that, as long as he applies it consistently to both sides the players adapt to that very, very quickly.’
Barnes will be assisted by two Frenchmen in Romain Poite and Alexandre Ruiz, with fellow Englishman Rowan Kitt on TMO duty.
Kick-off is at 11:45.
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Picture: Getty Images
