Ben Breakspear has been included in the 10-strong match official panel for the upcoming World Rugby U20 Championship in Italy. And Aled Griffiths will be joining him at the tournament, which runs from 29 June to 19 July with matches being played in Calvisano, Rovigo, Verona and Viadana, as one of five Television Match Officials. Breakspear first refereed at the tournament in 2023, the same year in which he was selected to officiate at the Olympic Games in Paris in sevens rugby. That honour came after he had performed consistentcy well for three years on the HSBC World Sevens circuit. Having first taken up the whistle while a pupil at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun the former Abercynon Youth outside half was taken into the WRU Referees Academy and has blossomed from there. At the age of 19 he found himself named among the shadow panel of officials for the Wales v Ireland Six Nations game at Principality Stadium in 2017. He was Assistant Referee 5 to Wayne Barnes on that occasion while studying pharmacy at Cardiff University. He was the man in the middle for the inaugural Super Rygbi Cymru final between Ebbw Vale and Newport at Eugene Cross Park and followed up his debut as a referee in the BKT United Rugby Championship last season with a handful of matches in the current campaign. “One of the main priorities when I came into the role was to seek to increase the opportunities made available to our match officials,” explained WRU National Elite Performance Match Official Manager, Ian Davies. “A year ago I was fortunate enough to oversee Ben Breakspear given his URC debut in the Edinburgh game against Zebre. His consistent performances at URC and EPCR level since then have led to his selection for this year’s Junior World Championship in Italy. “I also wanted some of our more experienced referees to consider opportunities as a TMO to support our on-field officials. Seeing Aled Griffiths appointed to the Junior World Championship is testament not only to his own hard work, but also the other TMO’s in our group who have challenged Aled and each other to continually improve. “There is now a really healthy level of competition developing in our match official department that I’m hoping will not only improve the standard of officiating at domestic level, but will also reflect in more high profile opportunities being awarded.” The selected referees for Italy are: Tomas Bertazza (Argentina), Ben Breakspear (Wales), Griffin Colby (South Africa), Katsuki Furuse (Japan), Peter Martin (Ireland), Marcus Playle (New Zealand), Jérémy Rozier (France), Filippo Russo (Italy), Lex Weiner (USA) and Morgan White (Hong Kong China). Seven of the 10 will be making their World Rugby U20 Championship debuts, including Katsuki Furuse, Morgan White, and Lex Weiner, who all impressed at the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2024 in Scotland. The five Television Match Officials completing the panel are Leo Colgan (Ireland), Graham Cooper (Australia), Aled Griffiths (Wales), Quinton Immelman (South Africa) and Dan Jones (RFU). World Rugby Talent ID Manager and Tournament Referee Manager Johnny Lacey said: “The selection of this panel highlights the referees that are coming through our pathway system. We have been working closely with our unions and regions to increase the number of match officials in our pathway into World Rugby competitions. “We are already starting to see the benefits with our talent identification programme providing four referees for this tournament and we are excited to see what the future holds for the officials involved in our men’s and women’s pathways.” WELSH REFEREES AT WORLD RUGBY U20 JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024: South Africa – Adam Jones 2023: Italy – Ben Breakspear 2019: Argentina – Craig Evans 2018: France – Dan Jones 2017: Georgia – Dan Jones 2016: England – Craig Evans 2015: Italy – Ben Whitehouse 2014: New Zealand – All Southern Hemisphere officials 2013: France – Ian Davies 2012: South Africa – Leighton Hodges 2011: Italy – Leighton Hodges 2010: Argentina – No Welsh representation 2009: Japan – James Jones 2008: Wales – James Jones VIEW MATCH SCHEDULE

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