He will be the player of the day on the turf of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille. 30-year-old Englishman Christopher Ridley will referee the first match of the Six Nations between France and Italy this Sunday. However, a referee who is completely unknown at the highest level of rugby.
After a short rugby career with Leicester Tigers (2009-2013) where he was unable to break through despite being among the professionals, Christophe Ridley spent two years as a coach at the English club responsible for rugby development.
According to his profile Social network LinkedIn, in 2016 he moved towards a career as an official referee for the English Confederation. In 7 years, he completed all levels, Premiership competitions, English Championship, but also URC competitions (Championship that unites Irish, Scottish, Welsh and South African clubs), European Cup (Challenge Cup and Champions Cup) or U20 Six Nations tournament.
This season, for example, he refereed matches in La Rochelle for the Cape Stormers or for Irish Leinster in Stade Francaise. Both Champions Cup matches ended in defeat for both French clubs.
Christoph Ridley will be on the whistle in his first meeting between the national rugby teams after being a match assistant for the past two seasons and a reserve referee during the last World Cup in France.
In parallel with his career as an arbitrator, Christophe Ridley conducted research University of Gloucestershire, to become a high performance consultant. Since 2019, he has been working as a freelance consultant in Cheltenham, England.
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