Six Nations referee appointments
December 3, 2002

Three of England's Royal Bank of Scotland Six Nations Championship matches this season will be refereed by southern hemisphere officials.

New Zealanders Paul Honiss and Steve Walsh, together with South African Jonathan Kaplan, appear on the International Rugby Board list of appointments.

Both Honiss and Kaplan were involved during England's successful autumn Test series against the Tri-Nations heavyweights.

Honiss took charge of the thrilling 32-31 victory over world champions Australia, while Kaplan controlled England's 31-28 triumph against New Zealand.

Honiss will be in the middle for England's pivotal Six Nations opener against France at Twickenham on February 15. Fellow New Zealander Walsh referees the Millennium Stadium appointment with Wales seven days later.

Kaplan has been awarded England's final Six Nations fixture against Ireland in Dublin on March 30, while Irish pair Alain Rolland and Alan Lewis are the respective officials for Twickenham visits by Italy and Scotland.

English referees Tony Spreadbury and Steve Lander have one game each, with Welshman Nigel Williams controlling Italy versus France and South African Andre Watson - the 1999 World Cup final official - taking charge of Ireland against France.

No Scottish officials feature among the referee or touch judge appointments, but Argentinian referee Pablo Deluca and Italian Guilio de Santis have been included.

Six Nations 2003 referee appointments: February 15 - Italy v Wales (Joel Jutge, France), England v France (Paul Honiss, New Zealand); February 16 - Scotland v Ireland (Andrew Cole, Australia).

February 22 - Italy v Ireland (Tony Spreadbury, England), Wales v England (Steve Walsh, New Zealand), February 23 - France v Scotland (Peter Marshall, Australia).

March 8 - Ireland v France (Andre Watson, South Africa), Scotland v Wales (Pablo Deluca, Argentina), March 9 - England v Italy (Alain Rolland, Ireland).

March 22 - Wales v Ireland (Steve Lander, England), England v Scotland (Alan Lewis, Ireland), March 23 - Italy v France (Nigel Williams, Wales).

March 29 - France v Wales (Paddy O'Brien, New Zealand), Scotland v Italy (David McHugh, Ireland), March 30 - Ireland v England (Jonathan Kaplan, South Africa).

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