Matthew Carley will take charge of his 50th Test match when Wales face Scotland at the Principality Stadium on Saturday in the third round of the Six Nations. The English referee, who began his officiating career at age 16, has had a notable journey including being the first referee to wear 'RefCam' in a professional match during the 2012/13 Championship campaign.
Carley made his Six Nations debut as an assistant referee in 2017 and led his first match in 2018. He officiated at the 2019 Rugby World Cup as an assistant and made his full refereeing debut at the 2023 tournament, overseeing Wales' Pool C opener against Fiji. That match became a classic but drew heavy criticism of Carley's performance.
Critics argued that Wales repeatedly infringed on their own try line in the second half, receiving only one yellow card despite many believing three or four were warranted. Fiji's head coach Simon Raiwalui expressed frustration, saying: 'I did think when we were down in the corner, we had multiple penalties and could have been multiple more and we didn't get a yellow card given against Wales.'
Former Scotland international Ruaridh Jackson called the lack of cards a 'joke', while ex-Fiji fly-half Nicky Little claimed the referee had 'melted' at key moments. BBC presenter Nick Knowles also condemned the officiating as an 'absolute disgrace' on social media, calling for World Rugby to apologise to Fiji.
