Scotland v Ireland referee James Doleman was accused of 'helping the other team' by angry coach
Ireland are looking to continue their Six Nations title defence today as they travel to Murrayfield to face Scotland.
Both sides got off to a winning start on the opening weekend, with Ireland coming from behind to beat England in a thrilling encounter in Dublin and Scotland seeing off a spirited Italian fightback to triumph in Edinburgh.
With France slipping up against England on Saturday, the Irish now have the opportunity to take a major step towards securing a historic 'threepeat' of titles, with victory this afternoon meaning they would be the only side left with a 100 per cent record in this year's Six Nations.
READ MORE: Ireland v England referee Ben O'Keeffe involved in awful toilet incident after game
READ MORE: The unseen Italy v Wales moments as players look helpless amid the hopelessness of it all
While Ireland were the pre-tournament favourites, however, Scotland have been regarded by many as potential dark horses and could themselves move to top spot in the table if they can do the business in front of a home crowd.
With much to play for, fans are set for another eventful 80 minutes of rugby, with referee James Doleman in the middle of it all. Here's what you need to know about today's official.
Who is James Doleman?
Born in New Zealand in 1991, Doleman spent much of his childhood in the Philippines and China and began refereeing while he was still a student.
He officiated his first game in 2007 at the age of 16, when he refereed an under-9s match at a school's tournament in Hong Kong. However, he was not impressed with his debut performance, as he later admitted he was "rubbish" on the day.
However, Doleman soon rose through the ranks in the years that followed and refereed the final of World Rugby U20 Championship in 2019, before taking charge of his first Super Rugby match the following year.
He made his international refereeing debut in 2021 at the age of 30 and the following year was appointed to officiate the first Test of Australia and England's Test series. The Kiwi then made his first appearance at the Six Nations in 2023, again refereeing England in their second-round clash against Italy.
After he was appointed, he told South China Morning Post: “It’s one of those goals as a referee. Aside from the World Cup, the Six Nations is the pinnacle.
"Being involved in a tournament like that, with the history, coming from New Zealand, the fans up north make the Six Nations very special. At the end of the day, referees get into refereeing because we’re fans of rugby. The reason I do it is to be involved in those occasions."
Accused by England coach
Doleman will be glad not to see Eddie Jones on the touchline at Murrayfield this afternoon, having found himself firmly in the former England coach's bad books after their first summer Test against Australia in 2022.
Jones' England fell to a fourth loss in a row as they suffered a 30-28 defeat in Perth that day - despite the opposition playing with 14 men for more than 45 minutes.
England were leading 6-3 when Australia's Darcy Swain was shown a red card for headbutting Jonny Hill, but the Wallabies later raced into a 30-14 lead. The hosts then held off a fightback in the final quarter of an hour to beat the Red Rose for the first time in nine attempts, leaving Jones furious.
In fact, the coach went as far as accusing Doleman of "evening things up" for Australia after sending off Swain, claiming that every red card he has seen has led to an official favouring the side who are a man down.
“That always happens,” he said. “You look at the history of the game, whenever you get a red card the referee evens it up. That’s normal and we’ve got to be good enough to handle it.
"When you play against 14 men, the referee has a significant impact on the game and you’ve got to be good enough to understand what that is and we weren’t good enough to understand what that is. And therefore we paid the price."
'Throat-slitting' incident
The following year, Doleman found himself at the centre of an unsavoury incident that stunned the world of rugby
Towards the end of the first half of the Super Rugby clash between Melbourne Rebels and the Hurricanes side in March 2023, a huge brawl kicked off with Dane Coles and Rebels lock Josh Canham going for each other.
Both teams then piled in to try to break it up and, amid the chaos, New Zealand superstar Ardie Savea threw Rebels fly-half Carter Gordon to the floor. The pair exchanged a few choice words before Gordon decided to break it off and walk away.
But as Doleman discussed the incident with his assistants Paul Williams and Graham Cooper, they concluded that while the initial dispute between Canham and Coles was "push and shove", Savea had escalated the situation.
Having already been penalised for something else, the All Black was promptly given a yellow card and was sarcastically clapped by Rebels scrum-half Ryan Louwrens as he made his way off the pitch.
This prompted an angry response from Savea, who pointed at the nine and drew his thumb across his neck in what appeared to be a throat-slitting gesture.
The commentary team at the game were taken aback by the shocking act, while Doleman's microphone picked up a player saying: "He's threatening to f*****g kill him, he's threatening to kill him".
Savea was banned for one week for the gesture and he issued an apology after the game, admitting he had set a poor example to young fans watching the game.
"I can understand the fans are furious with the gesture that I made," he told Sky Sports. "It's just a heat of the moment kind of thing, you know. It's footy, but I understand kids are watching us.
"We're in the heat of the moment and that's out of character for me, so I put my hand up first and apologise for that. I've got to be better, we're trying to clean up the game. I understand... there's no excuse for me, I've got to be better."
Scotland v Ireland referees
Referee: James Doleman (NZ)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (NZ) & Pierre Brousset (FRA)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZ)
