Jérôme Garcès

Who is Jérôme Garcès?

Jérôme Garcès is a French rugby union referee who regularly officiates high profile club matches in tournaments such as Pro 12, Top 14 and the Heineken Cup.

He made his first full international appearance in 2010, after refereeing the 2009 Junior World Championship in Japan. His debut was between England and Barbarians in the 2010 mid-year tests. During the 2010 end-of-year tests he was touch judge for the Ireland v Samoa match, one of his high profile appointments of the year.

Garcès was also touch judge in the annual Calcutta Cup match between Scotland and England during the 2011 Six Nations. In the 58th minute he became match referee, after the original referee, Romain Poite, was injured during play.

In April 2011, Garcès was named as an assistant referee for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and served as touch judge for four matches – Ireland v Russia, Fiji v Namibia, Samoa v Namibia and Wales v Namibia.

Garcès suffered minor controversy over the actions he took when awarding a penalty during a scrum in a fiery game between Saracens and Ospreys in Swansea during the pool stage of the 2011–12 Heineken Cup.