Who is the referee for Gallagher Premiership final? Meet man with whistle for Saracens vs Sale Sharks

Saracens will take on Sale Sharks in the final of the Gallagher Premiership at Twickenham Stadium.

The conclusion of the domestic rugby season comes a week after the dramatic Champions Cup final in Dublin. For the players taking the field in London it will be one of the last chances to tout themselves for a spot in England’s world cup squad in the autumn.

Owen Farrell will lead out Saracens hoping to add to their glittering trophy cabinet. The north London side were the loses in the 2022 Premiership final - after a red card left them with an uphill task against future England coach Steve Borthwick’s Leicester Tigers.

Sale Sharks are looking to cap a excellent season by lifting the trophy at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon. It is the first time since the 2005-06 season that the Greater Manchester side has made the final.

George Ford will hoping for more luck in the Premiership final this year. He was part of Leicester’s winning side last year but suffered a serious achilles injury during the game which left him waiting until February to make his debut for the Sharks.

But who will be the referee? Here is all you need to know:

When is Premiership final?

The biggest game in English domestic rugby will take place on Saturday, 27 May. It is due to kick-off at 3pm at Twickenham Stadium.

Who is the referee?

Luke Pearce will be the man with the whistle at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It will be his 141st Premiership match and his first final.

Pearce has refereed matches around the globe including games at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. He is among the 12 referees selected for the 2023 tournament in France this autumn.

He will be joined by assistants Karl Dickson and Christophe Ridley both of whom are also going to the World Cup this year. The citing officer will be Shaun Gallagher.

Who is the TMO?

Tom Foley will be the Television Match Official for the final at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

What has been said before the final?

Owen Farrell insists Saracens return to the Gallagher Premiership final with more strings to their bow as a result of last year’s Twickenham heartache. He said: “It took us a while to figure out how to get the best out of ourselves after last year’s final because we didn’t do that in that game. What happened probably allowed us to change a bit more than we usually would after a final. It got us looking at ourselves a bit more than usual.

“Just simply because we were nowhere near our best and we didn’t give the best version of ourselves. Obviously Leicester played a massive part in that, but we don’t want to come off the field feeling like that again. That 80 minutes made us look at everything and look at how we can be better.

“Everyone talks about us now like we have turned into a team that plays attacking rugby this year alone. We’ve won stuff before playing good rugby. We have always had a solid basis behind us and we still have but there were times during the year and sometimes in big pressure games that we were trying to stay in the fight whereas now we want to take opportunities and make good decisions.

“Part of that could be staying in the fight – we want to be good at that – and part of that could be moving the ball. It could be anything – kick pass, run. We want to be good enough to play any way the game demands of us and we feel like we have taken a step forward with that this year. Hopefully that plays a big part in what we have do on Saturday.”

Jonny Hill has urged Sale Sharks to seize the moment when they contest their first Gallagher Premiership final for 17 years. He said: “I brought it up in a meeting this week that we don’t want to go there, enjoy the day and occasion, think we’ve had a really good season, let’s go and win it next year.

“You never know, we might not get there for another 17 years, so let’s make the most of this weekend. How we do that, there are ways and techniques. A lot of these boys have never been to Twickenham, not even as a fan, so it was important to have a look at it all on Friday so that once we rock up on Saturday we will just be focused on the rugby and putting our best forward.

“We are in uncharted territory, really. There are quite a lot of players who haven’t experienced that big game in a big arena. It will be very close to a Test match, if not right there. Our preparation this week has been geared towards the hardest game we will have to play.

“Sale have got a golden crop of young lads coming through, which Exeter had. I see a lot of comparisons, although this time around I am one of the older ones!”