World Rugby has confirmed a change to the match official appointments for the Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2024 match between Italy and Scotland on 9 March.
Jaco Peyper (South Africa) has been ruled out of the Six Nations with an Achilles injury.
Angus Gardner (Australia) will replace Peyper as referee at the Stadio Olimpico.
- The updated appointments are:
- Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
- Assistant referee 1: Karl Dickson (England)
- Assistant referee 2: Adam Leal (England)
- TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Nigel Owens calls for major law changes ahead of the 2024 Six Nations
Popular former referee Nigel Owens has called for major changes to way games are officiated following what was a divisive Rugby World Cup.
The Welshman, who was writing in his column for Wales Online, believes there are a number of areas that need addressing after taking time to think about what went down in France.
Dump the bunker:
Owens wrote: “During the Rugby World Cup, I made no secret of my thoughts on the new TMO bunker. While it certainly showed how it can help to speed up games, it hardly reduced controversies or improved decision-making during the tournament and, in my opinion, ended up being used too much when the decisions should have been made by the on-field referees.
“At the moment, it feels like the TMO is refereeing matches and that is not a road that rugby should be going down. While technology has its place in the game, how it is used currently needs to change.”
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Scrap the drop-out:
Owens wrote: “It was hoped that they would improve player safety by reducing the number of pick-and-gos and encourage teams to spread the ball along the back line rather than bulldoze their way over to score.
But if you look at games now, teams are still picking and going and they’re still bulldozing their way over the line. If anything, it rewards negative play as the defender can just chuck themselves under the ball and hold it up.”