Three European Referees to Debut in Rugby Championship; Still Zero Argentines

World Rugby has confirmed the referee appointments for the 2024 Rugby Championship. Pierre Brousset (France), Andrea Piardi (Italy) and Christophe Ridley (England) will debut as referees in the competition. No matches will be officiated by Argentines and no Americas referee has ever been appointed a Rugby Championship match.

Piardi’s appointment is historic as it marks the first-time that an Italian will officiate a Rugby Championship match. Picardi will take charge of New Zealand vs Argentina in Auckland on August 17. He will also be an assistant one week earlier in Wellington. Australian Angus Gardner will referee that match.

France’s Pierre Brousset will make his Rugby Championship referring debut in Santa Fé on September 07. It will be Argentina’s second of two home matches against Australia. The assistant referees will be New Zealanders James Doleman and Ben O’Keeffe.

Christophe Ridley’s debut will also be for one of Argentina’s matches. The Englishman has been appointed as referee for Argentina vs South Africa in Santiago del Estero on September 21.

World Rugby’s remaining appointments see Paul Williams (New Zealand), Andrew Brace (Ireland), Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and the English trio of Matthew Carley, Karl Dickson, Luke Pearce all appointed matches.

All twelve matches will be refereed by a different referee. The overall spread is limited, however with four matches (25%) being refereed by England referees. This is over half of all the Six Nations appointments. Members of the Six Nations have been appointed as referees for 7 of the 12 (58.3%) matches.

World Rugby’s appointments see four new names as assistant referees. Two of them (50%) are British. They are Hollie Davidson (Scotland) and Craig Evans (Wales). The two others are Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy) and Damián Schneider (Argentina). Schneider refereed Uruguay v Scotland in July.

 

ARGENTINA’S FIXTURES – RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 2024

Aug  10 VS (Wellington, NZ)

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia); Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)

Aug 17 VS (Auckland, NZ)

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia); Nic Berry (Australia)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Aug 31  VS(La Plata, AR)

Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand); Pierre Brousset (France)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

Sep 07 VS(Santa Fé, AR)

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand); James Doleman (New Zealand)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Sep 21 VS(Santiago del Estero, AR)

Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant Referees: Matt Carley (England); Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)

Sep 28 VS (Nelspruit, ZA)

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: James Doleman (New Zealand); Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)