Rasta Rasivhenge

Referees almost never get the spotlight, which is exactly why this one earns my respect. Being chosen to officiate the rugby sevens final at the 2016 Rio Olympics is an extraordinary vote of confidence in your judgment and impartiality, and pairing that with a World Rugby Referee Award the same year leaves little doubt about the level. A Johannesburg native who moved from playing to the whistle, with a Witwatersrand education behind him, clearly brought both feel for the game and intellectual rigor to the role. A referee can elevate or strangle a match, and doing that job at the very summit takes a steel I genuinely admire.

Name (English)

Rasta Rasivhenge

Name (Japanese)

ラスタ・ラシベンゲ

Reading

らすた・らしべんげ

Born

January 3, 1986 (age 40)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Tiger

Origin

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Occupation

rugby union player / rugby union match official

University

University of the Witwatersrand

Awards & achievements

• 2016 World Rugby Referee Award

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B7%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B2

Tags

• Gauteng
• rugby union player
• rugby union match official

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.