Who is England vs France referee Ben O’Keeffe? Doctor from New Zealand selected for Calcutta Cup Six Nations game
ENGLAND will be taking on France in round 4 of the huge Six Nations tournament.
Eddie Jones’ side will be hoping to avenge their defeat from the grand finale last year.
GettyBen O’Keeffe has been selected to take charge of England’s match in Scotland[/caption]
And the man tasked with handling proceedings is New Zealander Ben O’Keeffe.
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Who is Ben O’Keeffe?
Ben O’Keeffe was born in Auckland, but grew up on New Zealand’s South Island in Blenheim.
He was head boy at his secondary school and has forged a successful career outside of rugby.
O’Keeffe has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Otago, graduating in 2012.
He practises as a doctor in ophthalmology and co-founded a social enterprise called oDocs Eye Care, which aims to create medical technology to help prevent blindness.
O’Keeffe started refereeing in 2008 at the age of 19 and made his Super Rugby debut in 2015.
He has been an international referee since 2016, and actually made his debut in a Scotland game against Argentina.
But his crowning achievement as an official is being selected to referee the second British and Irish Lions test in South Africa.
Ben O’Keeffe comes from a successful sporting family, with his brother Michael having been in the New Zealand football squad for the London 2012 Olympics.
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Which Scotland and England matches has Ben O’Keeffe refereed?
Ben O’Keeffe has refereed a number of Scotland matches and been widely praised for his handling of them.
This includes their 28-21 defeat to Japan in their 2019 Rugby World Cup group decider and their victory in Italy in the 2020 Six Nations.
However, his history with England is more chequered and he has previously been labelled a “cheat” by Eddie Jones.
O’Keeffe provoked Jones’ fury when he presided over England’s victory over Wales in 2020.
The Red Rose ground out a 33-30 win but Eddie Jones was left furious after they ended the game with 13 players, after Manu Tuilagi was sent off and Ellis Genge was sent to the sin bin.
Jones said: “It was 13 versus 16 at the end.”
