Wales's Clayton Thomas will referee Ireland's pivotal World Cup Pool clash with Australia at Lansdowne Road on October 10th. The Rugby World Cup (RWC) referee appointments were formally announced yesterday and there was good news for Ireland's Dave McHugh who will officiate at two matches.

One of the top French referees Joel Dume will take control of Ireland's opening pool match against the USA at Lansdowne Road with the English duo of Ed Morrison and Steve Lander running the lines.

In Ireland's final match England's no nonsense whistler Brian Campsall will be in charge. Ireland's tighthead Paul Wallace has been known to incur the wrath of the West Country official in the past for his scrummaging technique.

Scotland's Iain Ramage and Japan's Shinichi Iwashita will act as touch judges. For the Australian game Thomas will be assisted by Campsall and Steve R Walsh of New Zealand.

Limerick born, Cork official McHugh will take charge of Fiji's clash with Namibia in Beziers and in that match will be assisted by countryman Alan Lewis and Australia's Peter Marshall. Lewis will also act as a touch judge for the France v Canada, New Zealand v Italy and England v Tonga games.

McHugh's second game in charge is the Italy v Tonga match at Welford Road. Only two appointments have been made for the knockout stages with Derek Bevan (Wales) and Colin Hawke guaranteed matches. The remainder will be decided by the performance of the respective officials during the tournament.