Deal referee Matthew Carley to take charge of first Rugby Union World Cup game of his career when Wales face Fiji in Bordeaux

By Kevin Redsull

When Matthew Carley takes charge of his first Rugby World Cup game this Sunday, it will represent another significant milestone in his professional refereeing career.

Carley will be in charge of the Pool C match between Wales and Fiji in Bordeaux, followed by two other matches in Pool A, having been one of the assistant referees at the World Cup in Japan in 2019.

But this time the 38-year-old from Deal has been selected as one of the 12 match referees.

He said: “I was the first reserve referee in Japan and so just missed out on the referees’ group, and so I’m excited by the fact that I will be in charge of at least three games in France.

“But I’m hoping that I will also be under consideration to referee one of the Quarter-Finals as well.”

Whether that happens or not, Carley will have already added another big notch on a refereeing CV which stretches back more than 20 years after he started taking charge of local junior matches while playing youth rugby for Canterbury.

Rugby is in Carley’s blood. His father, Malcolm, had played for several east Kent clubs while his late grandfather John was the Kent RFU president for four years.

And his bond with the sport grew even stronger when, in 2004, he became the first undergraduate student in the country to receive a rugby refereeing scholarship while studying at the University of Gloucestershire.

On completing his sports science degree, Carley taught PE locally while continuing to referee on a Saturday but he was, eventually, offered the chance to become one of the RFU’s full-time referees.

He refereed his first Premiership match 10 years ago and his first Six Nations Championship match in 2019 - and now his first World Cup contest beckons.

Carley, who lives