Former Harlequins No.9 Karl Dickson will take charge of his first Gallagher Premiership Final this weekend, nearly ten years since swapping scrums for the whistle.
The 42-year-old has been named referee for Bath vs Leicester Tigers at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday — a blockbuster clash between the top two sides of the regular season.
Dickson is no stranger to the big occasion, with 24 Test matches under his belt, including appearances in the 2023 Rugby World Cup and four successive Six Nations Championships.
Ref Watch: Bath & Leicester under Dickson
This season, Dickson has officiated Bath four times — with the West Country side winning three of those encounters. Notably, two of those games saw red cards dished out:
- October: Bath 40-13 Sale – reds for both teams.
- December: Bath 68-10 Saracens – Toby Knight sent off for Sarries in a record loss.
As for Leicester, Dickson has only overseen one Tigers game this campaign — their 36-19 win over Bristol in April, which saw yellows shown to Joe Heyes and Solomone Kata.
Across 10 Premiership matches this season, Dickson has issued four red cards – more than any other official – but interestingly, his penalty count is low, averaging just 20.2 per game (ranked 12th out of 14 referees).
Final Details
- Referee: Karl Dickson
- Assistants: Luke Pearce, Adam Leal
- TMO: Ian Tempest
- Fixture: Bath vs Leicester Tigers
- Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
- Kick-off: Saturday
Let the best team win. And let’s hope the cards stay in the pocket…
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