Plus, the referees who will take charge of all the other Six Nations fixtures
: Getty Images/Shaun Botterill
Ahead of this year’s Guinness Six Nations, England head coach Steve Borthwick spoke about the differences between how Premiership referees and Test-level referees manage the game.
“The nature of the breakdown is refereed differently in international rugby and the nature of the scrum is refereed differently in international rugby,” Borthwick said. “Teams having the opportunity to scrum for penalties is important but we’re looking at too many scrums not getting to the contest. I like the scrum contest and I don’t want that to leave our game.
“The breakdown is a huge contest as well. English referees; the way they referee the Premiership, the speed of ball is high and they want the ball out of that breakdown. The area around the ball is clean in the Premiership because if it’s not, it’s penalised.
“At Test rugby, that’s different. At Test rugby, that area is not as clean as that and the back row becomes one of the biggest notes I review every session, every game, every tournament. When it comes to the breakdown, everyone’s got a responsibility but the back row are key.”
Who are the referees in the 2024 Six Nations?
Karl Dickson refereed the Six Nations opener between France and Ireland, one of four English officials to have been handed the whistle for men’s Championship fixtures this year.
Matthew Carley, Luke Pearce and debutant Christophe Ridley join Dickson in refereeing men’s 2024 Six Nations matches, with the quartet of English officials comprising the largest contingent from one nation.
Alongside Ridley – who will take charge of France v Italy in Lille on February 25 – Pierre Brousset of France and Andrea Piardi will make their Championship debuts, the latter becoming the first Italian official to referee a men’s Six Nations match when he oversees Ireland against Wales in Dublin on February 24.
When Pearce officiates Wales against France at the Principality Stadium, he will become the third Englishman, after Wayne Barnes and Chris White, to referee 50 Tests.
2024 Six Nations appointments
Round one
Friday, February 2: France 17 Ireland 38
Saturday, February 3: Italy 24 England 27
Saturday, February 3: Wales 26 Scotland 27
Round two
Saturday, February 10: Scotland 16 France 20
Saturday, February 10: England 16 Wales 14
Sunday, February 11: Ireland v Italy
Round three
Saturday, February 24: Ireland v Wales
Saturday, February 24: Scotland v England
Sunday, February 25: France v Italy
Round four
Round five
Comments
More stories
More from Rugby Union
More from The Telegraph
