Scotland v Ireland Six Nations 2023 referee: Meet the man in charge at Murrayfield Stadium

Meet the referee in charge of the Scotland v Ireland Six Nations game at Murrayfield Stadium
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This weekend sees Scotland and Ireland go head to head and while it will be the players receiving the most attention, scrutiny will also fall on the man in the middle. Whether decisions go your team’s way or not, there’s a good chance the referee will become a talking point of Saturday’s game.

In a change to 2022, this year each match will have a different referee overseeing the action with a total of eight nations represented in the selected match officials. Talking about the selection process ahead of the tournament, World Rugby Selection Committee Chairman Graham Mourie said: “As we enter a men’s Rugby World Cup year, our focus is very much on performance and culture as we begin to consider selections for France 2023.

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“The more time we have with the group, the better it is for everyone, and we constantly challenge ourselves to be better, to achieve alignment and consistency and strengthen understanding with the teams. As with the November tests and The Rugby Championship, the Guinness Six Nations represents another opportunity for a talented group of match officials with a superb work ethic to help facilitate more excellent tests in what is probably the most competitive period in men’s rankings history.”

Scotland will be looking to bounce back from a 32-21 defeat to France in the last round of fixtures. Ireland on the other hand will want to keep their momentum going off the back of a 20-34 victory over Italy.

Here’s who will be keeping the two nations in line, as well as full team line ups and how to watch the action live on TV.

Scotland v Ireland referee: Luke Pearce

England’s Luke Pearce is the man in charge of the Scotland v Ireland clash. Pearce is a regular referee in the English Premiership and has refereed games at European level since 2019.

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Below is the full list of match referees as well as the TMO.

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)

Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England) & Christophe Ridley (England)

TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)

Scotland v Ireland Six Nations 2023 confirmed line-ups

Scotland: Hogg, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu, Van der Merwe; Russell, White; Schoeman, Turner, Z Fagerson, R Gray, Gilchrist, Ritchie (capt), Watson, M Fagerson

Replacements: Brown, Bhatti, Nel, J Gray, Skinner, Dempsey, Price, Kinghorn

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Ireland: Hugo Keenan,  Mack Hansen, Stuart McCloskey, Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Ross Byrne, Craig Casey, Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher,  Finlay Bealham, Iain Henderson James Ryan (capt), Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O’Toole, Ryan Baird, Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Jimmy O’Brien

Matt Fagerson scored Scotland's fifth try in the record 35-7 win over Wales at Murrayfield. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)Matt Fagerson scored Scotland's fifth try in the record 35-7 win over Wales at Murrayfield. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Matt Fagerson scored Scotland's fifth try in the record 35-7 win over Wales at Murrayfield. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Six Nations 2023 Scotland v Ireland - how to watch

Kick off for the game being held at Scotland home turf, Murrayfield Stadium, is at 3pm on Sunday, March 12. You can watch the match live on BBC1 and BBC iplayer with build up to the clash beginning at 2.15pm.

If you can’t get yourself in front of a screen for the game, you can listen to live commentary via BBC Radio 5 Live.