Craig Evans will take charge of his 16th World Rugby international match when he referees the game between Uruguay and Romania in Montevideo this summer.
Both Evans and fellow Welsh referee Ben Whitehouse have been included among the match officials to control the 27 tests in the July window.
The 33-year-old Evans, who was involved in both the Olympic Games and the last World Cup in France, made his international debut as a referee in Malta in 2016 when they beat Israel 30-9. As well as refereeing in Uruguay on 12 July, a week later he will be the number one assistant referee to Italy’s Gianluca Gnechi when Los Teros host Argentina a week later in Salta.
Whitehouse has been handed two AR2 assignments involving Ireland. He will be on the touchline in Tbilisi on 5 July when Ireland face Rugby Europe champions Georgia, and then again in Lisbon a week later when they face Portugal.
Argentinean referee Damian Schneider will take charge of Wales for the first time when they open their summer test series against Eddie Jones’ Japanese side at the Mikuni World Stadium, in Kitakyushu. The English duo of Karl Dickson and Luke Pearce will be the assistants, with another Englishman, Ian Tempest, acting at the TMO.
A week later at the Noevir Stadium, in Kobe, Pearce will referee, and Schneider will join Dickson on the touchlines. The New Zealander Glen Newman will be the TMO for that match.
Meanwhile, Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Andrea Piardi (Italy) and Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) have been selected to referee the three tests between Australia and the British & Irish Lions in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Richard Kelly (New Zealand), Eric Gauzins (France) and Marius Jonker (South Africa) will act as the TMOs for the three fixtures.
James Doleman (New Zealand) will referee the opening game of the July window when the Lions take on with Argentina in Dublin on 20 June. Six referees will take charge of matches on the Lions tour of Australia with James Doleman (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand) and Pierre Brousset (France) joining O’Keeffe, Piardi and Amashukeli.
“With new global competitions to commence in 2026, our long-term focus continues to be on ensuring we have a widened pool of top-level international match officials on the road to Rugby World Cups in the USA, and this selection represents that strategic ambition,” said the chair of the Emirates World Rugby match official’s selection committee, Su Carty.
World Rugby High Performance 15s Match Officials Manager, Joël Jutge added: “Our collective focus continues to be on arriving at Australia 2027 with a team performing to its fullest potential, facilitating an exciting game for players and fans.
“The foundations are in place with the ‘critical few’, co-created and agreed with coaches in 2024 as performance indicators around speed, space, safety, scrum and lineout. We are collectively focused on consistent application and the 2025 July tests represent another milestone on the road to Australia.”