Matthew Carley is still relatively young for a referee at 38, but is gaining an increasing amount of experience with each passing year. Carley has been an active official in the Six Nations since 2017, before making the step up to become the one in the middle, as referee.

Matthew Carley made his professional refereeing debut in 2013 in the English Premiership and has steadily progressed since then. His first European match was in 2015 between Munster and Benetton. This was quickly followed by World Rugby appointing him for his first international fixture, between Russia and USA.

Carley’s first Tier One match that he refereed was in 2017, between Scotland and New Zealand.

The Englishman officiated the opening round of the 2021 Six Nations championship fixture between Italy and France. His first Six Nations bow as referee was in the same fixture in 2019. In 2020’s competition, he also refereed two fixtures.

Carley took charge of Scotland v Wales in the second round of 2021 Six Nations fixtures on Saturday 13 February. He also featured as assistant referee later in the tournament when France welcomed both Scotland and Wales to the Stade de France.

The referee will make his World Cup debut at the 2023 tournament being held in France. The first match he will be in charge of is Wales v Fiji in the pool stage. The match is taking place on 10 September at the Stade de Bordeaux in Bordeaux. He is among four referees who are taking part in their first World Cup at the 2023 edition.

In the pool stage he will also take charge of France v Namibia and New Zealand v Italy.

For all the Rugby World Cup news click here.