Scotland v Tonga referee Karl Dickson was called up to England Six Nations squad

Before the small matter of Wales v Australia on Sunday night, Scotland will look to get their World Cup up and running when they play Tonga in a crucial Pool B match.

Scotland have only played once at the tournament thus far, falling short against South Africa in a 18-3 defeat. With Ireland still to come in the pool phase, Gregor Townsend’s men know they must get a win against Tonga to have any hope of qualifying for the quarter-finals. Like Scotland, Tonga are yet to register a point at this World Cup, losing heavily to Ireland in their opening match.

The match kicks off at 4.45pm in Nice, with TV coverage starting on ITV1 getting underway at 4pm.

Who is the Scotland v Tonga referee?

• Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
• Assistant Referee 1: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
• Assistant Referee 2: Craig Evans (Wales)
• TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

Who is Karl Dickson?

Dickon is a 41-year-old referee who was born in Salisbury in 1982. A former scrum-half, he played for Bedford Blues and Harlequins before he retired six years ago. He was called up to the England squad for the 2012 Six Nations and that year’s summer tour of South Africa. He came off the bench against a South African Barbarians side, but never got onto the pitch in a full Test match for his country. He started training to be a referee while he was still playing, and made his World Cup debut in last week’s Wales v Portugal clash.

Blogger

Dickson and his wife have twin daughters, born in 2015. The referee, who has almost 8,000 followers on X, has written about his experiences bringing up two young children on the parenting website Baba. He has also spoken about the importance of finding something to focus on when a sporting career comes to an end. He said: “It’s a real shock to the system and I don’t think people can comprehend just how difficult it is.”

Controversies

Dickson made headlines earlier this year when he failed to send off England captain Owen Farrell for a high tackle on Jack Clement during the Premiership match been Saracens and Gloucester. The incident was raised by the TMO but, due to miscommunication, the challenge was not reviewed. The officials came in for criticism following the game and Farrell was cited for the tackle and handed a four-week ban.

Watch the Owen Farrell challenge that did not initially result in a red card

During the opening match of this World Cup between France and New Zealand, Dickson was one of the two assistant referees. After French full-back Melvyn Jaminet scored a try late one, he stepped up to take conversion. As the ball sailed over the sticks, Dickson raised his flag to indicate that the kick had been successful and had gone through the posts. However, his colleague Christophe Ridley kept his flag down, indicating that the kick had not been successful. World Rugby and TV replays confirmed that the conversion had not gone through the posts and that Dickson was wrong. Thankfully, given the timing of the incident and a healthy French lead at that stage, it had no bearing on the outcome of the match.