Match officials for round 4, including England vs Ireland referee

Thursday, 10 March 2022 at 07:30

photocentric vs youtube thumbnail coffee vs tea 2022 03 10t072922467

byRugby Rucker

Referee appointments for round three of the 2022 Guinness Six Nations, including the England vs Ireland referee in Rome on Sunday.

WALES vs FRANCE REFEREE

Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
Assistant Referee 2: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Tom Foley (RFU)

Height: 6 foot 1”

Fitness regime: I pretty much follow the plan that’s given to us by our strength and conditioning trainer at the RFU. It’s a combination of running, lower body weights for injury prevention, then lots of core and mobility, stretching and yoga.

Home town: I’m based in Deal in Kent. A great sport on the coast.

No of years referring: 20 and counting.

No of games refereed (prem/international/total): I’ve done 100 in the Premiership. About 40 in the European Cup and European Challenge Cup; 20 capped internationals as a referee and another 75 in the championship.

First game as a ref: Aylesford 3^rd team against next Maidstone 4^th team

First premiership game as a ref: London Welsh versus Worcester on the 13th of May 2013 - I only know that because I recently got 100 and someone sent me an article which was linked to the first game.

First international as a ref: My first ever international was Russia against Portugal in the European Nations Cup, and then my tier one V tier one game as a referee was Australia versus Italy in Brisbane.

Favourite stadium to ref in: If I had to ref one last game it’d have to be a full Twickenham!

Full profile!

ITALY vs SCOTLAND REFEREE

Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (WRU)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (RFU)

Height: I think about 173 CM which I only know because of the weighing machine at the gym which gives me my predicted height

Fitness regime: It's actually changed a fair bit over lockdown because I used to be quite heavy gym goer and I’d spend most of my days there. But since we were locked down with COVID I've got far more into my cycling. For me a lot of it is about injury prevention and anything I can do to keep fit and prolong my career is great.

Hometown: Exeter

Referee, Luke Pearce during the Gallagher Premiership Rugby Match between Harlequins and Wasps at The Stoop, Twickenham on 28 Sept. Photo: Phil Mingo/PPAUK/Gallagher.

No of years refereeing: 15 – 16 years since I started

How did you get started? I started locally because I enjoyed it. I wanted to stay involved in rugby as I wasn't that good at playing, so it just evolved and then I ended up a level 5 game, and eventually an international - before I know it was my job but I never intended to make it a profession when I started.

No of games refereed (prem/international/total): There’s a guy in New Zealand who keep stats on referees’ numbers and I've had mine recently and I’m now over 300 first class appearances, whatever that means, and 29 internationals.

First game as a ref: Crediton 2nds v Newton Abbott 3rds. I always remember having my bag over my shoulder on a little moped stretching out to Crediton for the game - it was something that will live long in my memory that's for sure.

First premiership game as a ref: It was Gloucester v Worcester, 2011. I remember it well. You are always really welcomed as someone who's doing their first Premiership game and walking out at Kingsholm and with all that noise and the crowd in the shed shouting - it was brilliant.

First international as a ref: New Zealand v France was my first as a tier one referee. Japan v Canada was my first tier two.

Favourite stadium to ref in? I have a couple. I'd say the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, tops the list for the atmosphere when you run out of the tunnel. When the roof is shut it’s a sound that I haven't heard anywhere else. I would also have to add Eden Park, Twickenham and the U Arena, Paris.

Who is your sporting hero? Michael Jordan

What is your whistle of choice? I use an ACME whistle – always have, always will. I have a silver and a black one – the one I use depends on which comes out of the bag first!

CONTINUES ON PAGE THREE

ENGLAND vs IRELAND REFEREE

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)
Assistant Referee 1: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Assistant Referee 2: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)

Raynal was born in 1981 in Perpignan, Southern France. Part of a successful Junior Perpignan team, they went on to win the French Junior Championships in 1998. However, that was the extent of Raynal’s playing career before choosing to take up the whistle.

Referee, Mathieu Raynal during the Heineken Champions Cup Round 4 match between Gloucester Rugby and Exeter Chiefs at Kingsholm Stadium, Gloucester, Gloucestershire on December 14. - PHOTO: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK