Kaplan began refereeing in 1984, while still a high school student. He made his first-class debut in 1991 and was appointed to South Africa's national panel of referees in 1993. On 4 May 1996 he made his international debut in a match between Namibia and Zimbabwe in Harare. He was appointed as a touch judge for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and as a referee for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, where he took charge of three pool games and the quarter-final between France and Ireland. He was one of the twelve referees appointed to officiate at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, and took charge of four pool games and the semi-final between England and France, and also at the 2011 Rugby World Cup where he refereed Tonga v Canada, Canada v Japan, England v Georgia & Ireland v Italy, he was also an Assistant Referee in the Semi-final between Wales & France. Jonathan become the first South African to officiate at four World Cups, and referee at three. Some of Kaplan's other notable games in charge include the first ever game in the Six Nations Championship, between Italy and Scotland in 2000, the second test between the British and Irish Lions and Australia in 2001 and the third test between the Lions and New Zealand in 2005. Kaplan was the referee for the 2005 Super 12 final and the 2006 Super 14 final. In December 2008 he was chosen as one of nine referees on a merit panel who, it was intended, would between them have charge of 75% of 2009 Super 14 matches irrespective of the nationality of the teams involved. In line with this policy, Kaplan was appointed to referee the 2009 Super 14 Final; in previous years he would have been debarred from officiating because of the involvement of a South African team. In late 2009, he was again named on the merit panel for the 2010 Super 14. In October 2008 he took charge of the final of South Africa's premier domestic competition, the Currie Cup, for the fourth time, and was the referee again for the 2009 final. On 12 February 2013, Kaplan announced his retirement from refereeing as of the end of the season.
Records
Kaplan was previously the most experienced Test referee of all time: he became the first referee to reach the milestone of 50 Test matches when he refereed the Scotland-Ireland game during the 2009 Six Nations Championship, and has since increased his total to 70 Tests.. As at August 2019 the record is now 89, held by Nigel Owens. He also holds the record for refereeing the most Tests involving a single team: the New Zealand-Wales game in June 2010 was his 17th involving the host nation, surpassing the record of 16 matches previously held jointly by Welshman Derek Bevan and New Zealander Paul Honiss. Other refereeing records held by Kaplan are: most Bledisloe Cup matches ; most Tri Nations matches ; most Six Nations matches ; only referee to have participated in four British and Irish Lions tours and to have had charge of matches in all three tour countries. Kaplan also holds South African refereeing records for most Rugby World Cup appearances and most World Cup games most Super 14 games ; and most Currie Cup matches ; and is the only referee to have won the award as South African Referee of the Year for four years in succession and 5 overall.
