Ireland have four referees - Donal Courtney, Alan Lewis, David McHugh and Alain Rolland - in the provisional squad of 26 referees for the Rugby World Cup in Australia later this year.
They also face busy schedules with all four appointed to officiate at many of the top games during the summer.
Courtney has been awarded two Rugby World Cup qualifying games in September as referee and a number of other matches as touch judge. Lewis, McHugh and Rolland will be involved in top line matches in South Africa, Canada and Argentina.
IRISH REFEREES SCHEDULE
Jun 8th - South Africa V Wales, Bloemfontein (Alan Lewis TJ); Jun 15th - South Africa V Wales, Cape Town (Lewis TJ); Jun 15th - Argentina V France, Buenos Aires (Alain Rolland TJ); Jun 15th - Canada V Scotland, Vancouver (David McHugh R); Jun 22th - Argentina V England, Buenos Aires (Rolland R); Jun 22th - USA V Scotland, Venue TBA (McHugh TJ); Jun 29th - RWC - USA V Can, Venue TBA (Lewis R; Courtney TJ); Jul (n/a) - Canada V USA, Venue TBA - (Lewis TJ; Courtney TJ); Sept 7th - RWC - Uruguay V Winner Rd 3, Venue TBA - (Courtney R); Sept 21th - RWC Italy V TBC - Venue TBA (Courtney R).
The full list of World Cup officials are: Pablo Deluca (Argentina), Giulio De Santis (Italy), Joel Jutge, Joel Dume (France), Chris White, Steve Lander, Tony Spreadbury (England), Nigel Williams, Nigel Whitehouse (Wales), Stuart Dickinson, Andrew Cole, Peter Marshall, Scott Young (Australia), Donal Courtney, Alan Lewis, David McHugh, Alain Rolland (Ireland), Steve Walsh, Paul Honiss, Kelvin Deaker, Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand), Andre Watson, Jon Kaplan, Mark Lawrence, Andy Turner (South Africa), Iain Ramage (Scotland).
