Jean Pierre Matheu has been appointed to the Final of France's Top 14 to be played between Perpignan and Clermont Auvergne before a packed Stade Français on Saturday night. It is a massive responsibility.

His appointment is the last by René Hourquet, France's refereeing boss who hands over the responsibility to Didier Mene.

It was not an easy choice. An obvious choice would have been Christophe Berdos, France's No.1 in the continued absence of injured Joël Jutge. But Berdos is refereeing the match at Old Trafford between Argentina and England before taking off for South Africa and the Lions' tour when he will referee the second Test.

The next experienced man, France's third member of the international panel is Romaine Poite. Having just refereed England vs the Barbarians, he would have been available but he is soon off to Australia for the Test between the Wallabies and Italy.

So the lot fell upon 41-year-old Jean-Pierre Matheu, whose father, Jean Matheu, was a top referee in his day and now is an assessor. Jean-Pierre has great experience in the Top 14 and was told of his appointment on his return from Sweden where he refereed in the Women's World Cup qualifiers. He does not have extensive international experience.

His assistant referees are  Franck Maciello and Bruno Bessot, the television match official Gérard Borreani,  and there will be two of France's most famous referees to assess and assist - Francis Palmade and Joël Dumé.

Born in Pau, Jean-Pierre Matheu now lives in Pujaudran, west of Toulouse.