World Cup Referees: The 21st team in Japan

This Rugby World Cup squad could have a major influence on the tournament — hopefully for the better.

There are four pools and five nations in each. But beyond the 20 countries competing at the Rugby World Cup is another critical selection — that of the match officials (MOs) or Team 21, as they’ve become known.

This consists of 12 referees, seven assistant referees (ARs) and four Television Match Officials (TMOs).