Two English referees have been named on the IRB panel of officials for the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Tony Spreadbury, from Bristol, and Chris White, from Cheltenham, are on a list of 16 officials from eight countries taking charge of games in Australia.

White, 40, will referee the pool games between Wales and Canada (Melbourne, October 12), Argentina and Romania (Sydney, October 22), and South Africa and Samoa (Brisbane, November 1).

Spreadbury, 41, will be in the middle for New Zealand v Canada (Melbourne, October 17) and Scotland v Fiji (Sydney, November 1).

Both will also take part in other games as touch judges and fourth officials.

“They’ve both worked extremely hard and earned this because of their success at international level,” said Colin High, the head of the RFU Elite Referees Unit. “Tony had a superb game when he refereed Australia v New Zealand in this year’s Tri-Nations that clinched it for him. Chris went to the last World Cup and has been a very consistent performer with a very good Premiership season behind him.”

The performance of the officials in the pool games will determine who is appointed to the take charge of the knock-out stages.

The referees appointed to England’s Pool C games have also been named with Australia’s Peter Marshall will be in charge for the clash with South Africa in Perth on October 18. Argentinian Pablo Deluca will referee England’s opening game against Georgia. Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa) and Nigel Williams (Wales) are in charge for the games against Samoa and Uruguay respectively.