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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 are making 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
- Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Carley (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 2: Jordan Way (Aus)
- TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)
Saturday, February 3: Italy 24 England 27
- Referee: Paul Williams (NZ)
- Assistant Referee 1: Nic Berry (Aus)
- Assistant Referee 2: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
- TMO: Brett Cronan (Aus)
Saturday, February 3: Wales 26 Scotland 27
- Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
- Assistant Referee 1: James Doleman (NZ)
- Assistant Referee 2: Angus Mabey (NZ)
- TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZ)
Round two
Saturday, February 10: Scotland 16 France 20
- Referee: Nic Berry (Aus)
- Assistant Referee 1: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)
- Assistant Referee 2: Jordan Way (Aus)
- TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ire)
Saturday, February 10: England 16 Wales 14
- Referee: James Doleman (NZ)
- Assistant Referee 1: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ)
- Assistant Referee 2: Hollie Davidson (Sco)
- TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZ)
Sunday, February 11: Ireland 36 Italy 0
- Referee: Pierre Brousset (Fra)
- Assistant Referee 1: Mathieu Raynal (Fra)
- Assistant Referee 2: Luc Ramos (Fra)
- TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)
Round three
Saturday, February 24: Ireland v Wales
- Referee: Andrea Piardi (Ita)
- Assistant Referee 1: Karl Dickson (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 2: Gianluca Gnecchi (Ita)
- TMO: Eric Gauzins (Ita)
Saturday, February 24: Scotland v England
- Referee: Andrew Brace (Ire)
- Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby (Ire)
- Assistant Referee 2: Eoghan Cross (Ire)
- TMO: Marius Jonker (SA)
Sunday, February 25: France v Italy
- Referee: Christophe Ridley (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 1: Matthew Carley (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (Wal)
- TMO: Ian Tempest (Eng)
Round four
Saturday, March 9: Italy v Scotland
- Referee: Angus Gardner (Aus)
- Assistant Referee 1: Karl Dickson (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 2: Adam Leal (Eng)
- TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)
Saturday, March 9: England v Ireland
- Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)
- Assistant Referee 1: Andrea Piardi (Fra)
- Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (Wal)
- TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wal)
Sunday, March 10: Wales v France
- Referee: Luke Pearce (Eng)
- Assistant Referee 1: Andrew Brace (Ire)
- Assistant Referee 2: Damian Schneider (Arg)
- TMO: Ian Tempest (R)
Round five
Saturday, March 16: Wales v Italy
- Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)
- Assistant Referee 1: Chris Busby (IRFU)
- Assistant Referee 2: Morné Ferreira (SARU) T
- TMO: Joy Neville (IRFU)
Saturday, March 16: Ireland v Scotland
- Referee: Matthew Carley (RFU)
- Assistant Referee 1: Karl Dickson (RFU)
- Assistant Referee 2: Christophe Ridley (RFU)
- TMO: Marius Jonker (SARU)
Saturday, March 16: France v England
- Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
- Assistant Referee 1: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
- Assistant Referee 2: Damian Schneider (UAR)
- TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
