Marius Jonker was born on 19 June 1968 in Kimberly, South Africa.

He began refereeing in 2000 when he turned up to a game and the referee had not turned up. He took the whistle and the rest is history.

In 2005 he made his debut in the Super 12 and Currie Cup and also officiated at the U21 World Championship.

Jonker refereed his first international match in 2005 between Uganda and Zimbabwe.

He took his Six Nations bow in 2007, his first match being between England and Scotland. Later that year he made his World Cup debut, he was one of three referees to make their bow at the 2007 tournament – the others being Wayne Barnes and Nigel Owens.

He was appointed as a referee to the 2009 Super 14 and he was named as the first non-neutral to take charge of a match. He refereed a match in Pretoria between the Bulls and the Queensland Reds.

Jonker retired from refereeing in 2014 and a match between Namibia and German was his last. He has since turned to being a television match official (TMO), a role he held at the 2019 World Cup. He will also be a TMO at the 2023 tournament.

He was a TMO in the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa. Jonker was called upon after New Zealand’s Brendon Pickerill had to withdraw because of travel disruption. As South Africa is Jonker’s native country Lions coach Warren Gatland was thought to be angry at the appointment.

Robin McBryde, the Lions’ forwards coach, said: “It was a bit unexpected – we only found out on Wednesday. There’s a slight lack of foresight because there’s a reason why that position is neutral. There’s no plan B put in place. You’ve just got to get on with it, really.”

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