Jonathan Kaplan (rugby)

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Jonathan Kaplan (born 7 November 1966 in Durban, South Africa) is a full-time international rugby union referee. He began refereeing in 1984 and made his international debut as a referee in 1996 in a match between Namibia and Zimbabwe in Harare.

Kaplan was a touch judge at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and a referee at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, where he took charge of three pool games and the quarter-final between France and Ireland. He was one of the twelve referees appointed to officiate at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France and took charge of four pool games and the semi-final between England and France.

Some of Kaplan's notable games in charge include the first ever Six Nations Championship game under the expanded format in 2000 between Italy and Scotland, the second test between the British and Irish Lions and Australia in 2001 and the third test between the Lions and New Zealand in 2005. He has also refereed three finals of South Africa's premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup and was the referee for the 2005 Super 12 final and 2006 Super 14 final, a game notable for the dense fog which obscured much of the action from spectators and commentators.

Though he was not criticised for his handling of that match (both teams, the officials, broadcasters and administrators had all agreed that the match should take place), Jonathan Kaplan's career has not been without controversy. In 2005, he had charge of the Six Nations Championship game between Ireland and England and was strongly criticised ^[1] by English officials (including the then head coach, Andy Robinson, and the RFU's Manager of Elite Referees, Colin High), when he disallowed two try attempts by England: Robinson and High both subsequently received official reprimands from the RFU over their comments ^[2] while Kaplan publicly refuted their criticism.^[3]

During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Kaplan was criticised for his time-keeping in the pool game between Canada and Japan.^[4] The Canadians were aggrieved that he had played several minutes of extra time, during which Japan scored a converted try and drew the game. It was explained subsequently that those responsible for the stadium and television clocks had failed to stop their clocks correctly during injury stoppages and other breaks in play and that there had been a breakdown in communications between the television match official (the official timekeeper) and those controlling the clocks.^[5] Kaplan was also implicated in the controversy surrounding the handling of the quarter-final between France and New Zealand, a game in which he was one of the touch judges, and though he went on to referee one of the semi-finals and, as a South African, was not eligible to participate in the final, it was claimed that he missed out in the appointments for the third-fourth place playoff because of his poor performance in the quarter-final.^[6]

Apart from rugby, Jonathan Kaplan holds a bachelor of social sciences degree, with majors in economics and psychology, and a postgraduate degree in marketing management.