McHugh for Wembley

Munster referee Dave McHugh will take charge of the Five Nations Championship clash between Wales and France at Wembley on April…

Munster referee Dave McHugh will take charge of the Five Nations Championship clash between Wales and France at Wembley on April 5th. He will be one of the touch judges at the Scotland-France game at Murrayfield on February 21st.

Two of England's matches will be controlled by southern hemisphere referees. New Zealander Colin Hawke has been awarded the Twickenham clash against Wales on February 21st, while Australian Peter Marshall takes charge when England host Ireland six weeks later.

Englishman Ed Morrison, the 1995 World Cup final referee, has been allocated Ireland versus Wales in Dublin on March 21st.

All the appointments are based on a new system successfully adopted for last summer's Tri-Nations series between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, establishing an elite group of Test referees.

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Full assessments have been conducted by the International Rugby Board's referees chief Tim Gresson and his colleagues, meaning four new additions to the IB's panel.

McHugh, Jim Fleming (Scotland) Didier Mene (France) and Andre Watson (South Africa) join the list, and Gresson said: "This new merit-based approach has received a very positive reaction from leading players and coaches worldwide."