Late England vs South Africa referee change made as rugby official Owen Farrell ‘chased down tunnel’ is brought in
ANDREW BRACE has been replaced as an assistant referee for England vs South Africa.
The two sides will meet at the Stade de France on Saturday for a place in the Rugby World Cup final.
However, Brace will no longer be involved after pulling his calf in the week.
French official Mathieu Raynal is instead set to replace him for the semi-final in Paris.
Raynal took charge of England's win over Fiji at the Stade Velodrome last week which booked their spot against the Springboks.
He will join New Zealand's Paul Williams as an assistant referee, with Ben O'Keeffe remaining as referee.
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TMO Brendan Pickerill completes the officiating team for the match.
As well as officiating England's quarter-final win, Raynal also has history with captain Owen Farrell.
The pair were involved in a heated run-in during last year's clash with New Zealand at Twickenham.
Although England scored three late tries to rescue a thrilling 25-25 draw, Farrell had been enraged by the referee during the first half.
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The fly-half accused Raynal of "only looking for one team" with his comments picked up on the referee's microphone.
Farrell later followed the official down the tunnel at half-time and could be heard asking him: "Is there anything we can do better?"
Raynal was also referee in England's World Cup opener against Argentina, where Tom Curry was sin-binned after three minutes for a head collision with Juan Cruz Mallia.
The yellow was then controversially upgraded to a red card via the bunker review system.