Referee appointments for round one of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations, including the England vs Scotland referee at Twickenham.
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Wales vs Ireland referee (Principality Stadium, Cardiff; Saturday 4 February – 2.15pm)
- Referee: Karl Dickson (RFU)
- Assistant Referee 1: Angus Gardner (RA)
- Assistant Referee 2: Luke Pearce (RFU)
- TMO: Tom Foley (RFU)
Dickson will be heading to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 4th February to officiate the first game of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations when Wales takes on Ireland.
Along with our partners at ACME whistles, we caught up with Karl to find out a little more about his journey to the Six Nations, and how being a player has helped him in his officiating career.
“I have only refereed one Six Nations game previously which was Scotland v France last year so it’s a massive privilege to be able to referee the first game of the Six Nations and launch the tournament,” he said.
“I have only refereed one Six Nations game previously which was Scotland v France last year so it’s a massive privilege to be able to referee the first game of the Six Nations and launch the tournament,” he said.
“When I became a referee, the goal was to referee a World Cup but within that goal was to referee tier one games at the big tournaments.
“The Six Nations is up there as one of the best tournaments in the world so to be part of it in general is a massive privilege.
“For me personally coming from playing then getting into refereeing a lot later than everyone else probably makes it a little bit more special because I’ve only been refereeing top level games for around six years.”
When asked if he feels there are going to be more eyes on this as the opening game of the tournament, Karl said: “I don’t think so. I imagine it would be the same as any Six Nations tournament or game because you have England playing Scotland the same day.
“I don’t think you can ever get bored of watching these six teams play each other because it’s such a special occasion with sell-out crowds across the whole tournament. I think each game from the opener to the final one will be really special.”
When talking about the difference between the Six Nations and premiership games Karl went on to say: “When we prepare for premiership games most of the time we’ve seen the guys a lot across the year and then European games again we still might see them.
“But when you go to the international level you might not have seen some of the players for quite a while.
“I refereed Ireland in July but the last time I refereed Wales was probably two years ago, so I’ve got to do a little bit more preparation in and around what to expect.
“We have a fabulous analyst called Kate Burke who puts a presentation together for us around lineouts, scrums, kick offs to help prepare the team of officials.”
