After last week's controversial officiating in Wales' last-gasp defeat to South Africa in the first Test, the referee for this weekend's clash in Bloemfontein will be under a little more scrutiny.
It's no secret that Wales weren't thrilled with some of inexperienced Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli's decisions in Pretoria, but this week's official, Angus Gardner has plenty more Test matches under his belt. Speaking in his WalesOnline column, former Wales captain Gwyn Jones said Gardner's appointment "has to be a good thing".
READ MORE : Gwyn Jones predicts what will happen in South Africa v Wales showdown
"Game empathy and consistency are the two big improvements Wales will be hoping for from the referee," he added.
Born on 24 August 1984 in Sydney, Australia, Gardner was a keen rugby player as a teenager until he was diagnosed with a hereditary disc condition called Scheuremann's Disease.
Of the moment he was diagnosed, Gardner told Sydney Morning Herald: "The doctor was like 'mate, you need to take up fishing' and that was devastating to hear. One of the teachers suggested refereeing as a way of staying involved and I went from there."
He started refereeing in 1999 but only became a full-time ref in 2015. His first match in Super Rugby was between the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium.
In November 2011, Gardner was appointed to his first test match, which was an Oceania Cup match between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu in Port Morseby.
Gardner was appointed to the IRB Junior World Championship in 2012 and 2014, and took charge of the semi-final between England and Ireland in 2014. He refereed at his first Rugby World Cup in 2015 and took charge of the Super Rugby final in 2018.
In that same year, he was awarded World Rugby Referee of the Year. Also in 2018, he took charge of South Africa's narrow 12-11 defeat to England at Twickenham, when Owen Farrell escaped punishment for a no-arms hit on Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen.
Ironically, that was one of Esterhuizen's last caps before his recall this year - with the centre starting against Wales this weekend. However, the real story was when, speaking about the incident on Will Greenwood's podcast on Sky Sports, Gardner admitted he may have made the wrong decision in not penalising Farrell.
"I think in hindsight now, having discussed it with some other referees... I think the general consensus would be that a penalty was probably the outcome there that should have been given," he said.
"I think we need to see a wrap with both arms, and I think in hindsight - although he got pinned - there wasn't a big enough wrap from both arms, really. There was a wrap with one arm, but there wasn't a wrap with the other arm.
"Of the angles that I was showed in the stadium at the time, that seemed to me to be enough of a wrap for me to constitute a legal tackle.
"It was never high, and so all we were looking at was the tackle technique. The collision itself also kind of swayed my decision because it was a big rugby collision, and we see these hits in the game."
The following year, Gardner was in charge of Wales' Grand Slam decider against Ireland, while he also took charge of the Irish World Cup defeat to Japan later that year. Another match he oversaw in the World Cup saw him dealing with a 20-man brawl between France and Argentina.
He also took charge of Wales' pool stage win over Uruguay, when he supposedly chuckled after Hallam Amos butchered a try. Former Wales wing Shane Williams, who was working as a co-commentator for host broadcasters ITV, said: "Even Angus Gardiner is laughing."
During this year's Six Nations championship, Gardner refereed his first match in the tournament since 2019 when he officiated France's clash with Ireland in Paris.
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