The Bloemfonteiner, Jaco Peyper, will be refereeing his fifth Currie Cup final on Saturday afternoon when the Bulls take the field against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

The highly experienced international referee who is a lawyer by trade will be joining a very elite group of past referees that have had the whistle in five or more Currie Cup finals.

He will, in fact, become just the fifth referee in the history of South African rugby to reach this milestone. The previous four officials are André Watson, with a record seven finals to his name, Jonathan Kaplan and Steve Strydom, with six apiece, while Freek Burger was in charge of five.

Peyper also has become just the second Bloemfonteiner to achieve the feat after the somewhat legendary Strydom.

He will, however, blow his final at Loftus Versfeld after previously officiating in Durban, Cape Town and Bloemfontein. The first time he blew a final was in 2012, followed by three in a row from 2016 to 2018.

A further feather in the cap for the Free State referee is the fact that Griffin Colby will be an Assistant Referee (linesman) along with AJ Jacobs for the final. Jacobs himself was born in Kimberley, but attended school at Welkom Gymnasium and played junior representative rugby for the Griffons.

Saturday’s final in the Jacaranda City kicks off at 15:00. – MORGAN PIEK