The International Rugby Board has announced the appointments of referees for the 2012 Six Nations which starts on 4 February 2012. There are two controversial non-appointments.

The appointments were made by the IRB Referees Selection Committee in Auckland, New Zealand following a detailed review of match official performances at Rugby World Cup 2011 and other major competitions. The selection committee is David Pickering (chairman) (Wales), Tappe Henning (South Africa), Kevin Bowring (England), Bob Francis (New Zealand), Stephen Hilditch (Ireland) and Michel Lamoulie (France). The IRB Referee Manager is Paddy O'Brien. Of those selectors Tappe Henning, Bob Francis, Stephen Hilditch and Paddy O'Brien are former Test referees.

The IRB makes the following statement in announcing the appointments: "New Zealand’s Bryce Lawrence, a member of the Rugby World Cup 2011 match official team, has been rested following a busy year of international and domestic fixtures and is expected to return for the June 2012 Tests."

That is the first interesting non-appointment, though it is hard to see that he has a greater need for rest than, for example, Craig Joubert who is appointed to two Six Nations matches.

The other noteworthy non-appointment is that of Jonathan Kaplan, the referee who has refereed more Test matches than anybody else in the history of the game. He went underused at the World Cup, not getting one of the play-off matches and is, apart from Lawrence who is resting, the only one of the 10 referees chosen for the World Cup not to get a Six Nations match while two referees who were not considered worthy to be chosen to referee at the World Cup, Chris Pollock and Jérôme Garces, have been appoiinted to Six Nations matches. They did not referee at the World Cup when these appointments were made. Paddy O'Brien, the IRB's refereeing boss, said: “I am delighted to see Chris Pollock and Jérôme Garces stepping up to the plate and earning their selection on merit and would like to wish them and all the match officials a superb RBS Six Nations Championship.”

Kaplan has been appointed to one of the Wallabies' two matches in December, but then so has Romain Poite who is refereeing a Six Nations match.

On the appointments, Pickering said: “It was a very tough selection process. The overall standard of performance by the match official team during Rugby World Cup was exceptionally high and they can be proud of their contribution to what was a wonderful Tournament. The key now is to maintain these high standards and build on the excellent work achieved in New Zealand as we refocus on the RBS Six Nations.” 

Nigel Owens, who refereed a quarterfinal at the World Cup, will referee the opening match of the Six Nations and also the closing match when Ireland and England meet on St Patrick's Day.

There are several Scottish appointments in these Six Nations appointments after there was not a single Scottish match official at the World Cup.

O'Brien said of the refereeing at the World Cup: “I was really impressed by the overall performance during Rugby World Cup 2011, but our focus will remain firmly on consistency, penalising the clear and the obvious and tackling the ‘big five’ areas.

“Collectively we will continue to work as a unit to drive standards and maintain a zero-tolerance attitude towards infringements around the breakdown and at the scrums. In that regard, I would also like to thank the coaches for their buy-in to this process during Rugby World Cup.”

Six Nations Appointments 2012

4 February 2012 
 
France vs Italy at Stade de France 
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales) 
Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), John Lacey (Ireland) 
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

Scotland vs England at Murrayfield 
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) 
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales) 
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)
 
5 February 2012
 
Ireland vs Wales at Aviva Stadium 
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England) 
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
 
11 February 2012
 
Italy vs England at Stadio Olimpico 
Referee: Jérôme Garces (France) 
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Neil Paterson (Scotland) 
Television match official: Tony Redmond (Ireland)
 
France vs Ireland at Stade de France 
Referee: Dave Pearson (England) 
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Andrew Small (England)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
 
12 February 2012 

Wales vs Scotland at Millennium Stadium 
Referee: Romain Poite (France) 
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)

25 February 2012

Ireland vs Italy at Aviva Stadium 
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa) 
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), David Changleng (Scotland)
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

England vs Wales at Twickenham 
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France) 
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)
 
26 February 2012 

Scotland vs France at Murrayfield 
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England) 
Assistant referees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Geoff Warren (England)
 
10 March 2012

Wales vs Italy at Millennium Stadium 
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) 
Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)
 
Ireland vs Scotland at Aviva Stadium 
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite, Greg Garner (England) 
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
 
11 March 2012 

France vs England at Stade de France 
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) 
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), John Lacey (Ireland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)
 
17 March 2012 

Italy vs Scotland at Stadio Olimpico 
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland) 
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Pascal Gauzere (France) 
Television match official: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

Wales vs France at Millennium Stadium 
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa) 
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)

England vs Ireland at Twickenham
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales) 
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garces (France), Neil Paterson (Scotland)
Television match official: Jim Yuille (Scotland)