Dissent, foul play and illegal clothing are some of the areas officials will be cracking down on during the Rugby World Cup, international referees chief Paddy O'Brien has said.

O'Brien, a former Test official and now the IRB's referee manager, has come from two days of frank talks with coaches of the 20 sides participating in the tournament, which kicks off on Friday.

He admitted a number of key areas needed to be looked at, including the standard of touch judging, which he labelled as "appalling" over the past 12 months.

But he said the "best 12 referees in the world" would be officiating at the tournament, and has every confidence they will clamp down on a number of important areas.

O'Brien insisted officials will be taking a close look at teams' attire during the World Cup.

"Several sides are wearing what can only be described as American football garb," he said.

"We are going to inspect the players' clothing in the dressing room and also when the players are on the field after the anthems.

"Areas we are looking at are armguards that are outside regulations, shoulder padding, sternum pads. We are seeing some players use them in foul play.

"We have made it quite clear to all teams that we want it to be a tournament where everyone goes into the games on an equal footing."

He also wants referees to be respected during the tournament, adding: "There has been a lot of publicity about the amount of talk going on, people questioning a referee's decisions.

"We have made it clear that when a referee makes a decision, rightly or wrongly, it should be respected.

"We have given them licence to give an interpretation to the captains and forward leaders during 'down time' (the natural breaks in the game).

"We will not hide behind refereeing errors. But I will defend referees if they are correct."

O'Brien fears too many incidents of foul play are being missed, such as the off-the-ball punch in a friendly game between Bayonne and Ireland last month that saw Irish captain Brian O'Driscoll sustain a fractured sinus and damaged cheekbones.

"I am not hiding behind the fact that touch judging in the last 12 months has been appalling," he assessed.

"We are asking them 'for goodness sake, touch judge and don't referee the game'. We are very concerned about the standard of touch judging throughout rugby."

Other areas that referees assessors will focus on are feeding into the scrums, flankers breaking from the scrum too early and players walking across a line-out before the ball has been thrown in.

"If referees don't look at this, it will affect their future participation in the tournament," O'Brien warned.

He also called on coaches not to use the media as a forum to air their frustrations.

"We have concerns about the amount of coaches running to the media with their complaints," O'Brien said.

"It is not fair on referees that they are judged in the media, without the right of a fair hearing or a report coming in. I have given coaches my contact details. I want them to speak to me.

"I have complete faith in the referees. We want referees to act on what they see.

"I have really appealed to them to disregard what they see in the media. I have asked referees to ref according to the moment."  PA