Scotland v South Africa referee Christophe Ridley clashed with Gary Neville

Scotland face the biggest challenge of their Autumn Series campaign as they welcome the world champion Springboks to Murrayfield.

Gregor Townsend's side kicked off their autumn in style last weekend with a 57-17 demolition of Fiji which saw them run eight tries including four from Darcy Graham. Those scores from Graham saw him become Scotland's joint all-time record try scorer before Duhan van der Merwe reclaimed pole position with a try of his own.

The two wings will continue competing for the record this weekend but will face far sterner opposition in South Africa, who have not lost to a Scotland side since 2010. The last time the two sides met, at last year's World Cup, the Springboks emerged 18-3 victors with a powerful display.

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Englishman Christophe Ridley is the man in the middle for this one. Here's everything you need to know about today's referee.

Who is Christophe Ridley?

Born in Paris in 1993, Ridley studied at the University of Gloucestershire and began refereeing professionally in 2016. Since then, he has been a regular official in the Premiership, Champions Cup and Challenge Cup while he made his URC bow in 2022 as he took charge of Munster v Leinster.

He was named as one of the assistant referees for last year's World Cup, forming part of the lineup for the tournament opener between France and New Zealand, as well as Wales' clashes against Australia and Fiji and the electric quarter-final between Ireland and the All Blacks, among others.

He made his Six Nations debut this year as he took charge of France's dramatic draw with Italy.

In an interview with the Telegraph last year, his partner Katie gave an insight into how driven he is as a referee, revealing: "As soon as Christophe comes back from a game, he has had very little exposure as to the reaction of his performance from TV and commentary,"

"So we deliver that information when he gets back. About 99 per cent of the time it's positive, but we're definitely the first people who tell him how it's gone in terms of what people are saying.

“He will sit up after games in the middle of the night reviewing them, and still wake up at 6am every morning, regardless of what time he's gone to bed, to continue reviewing," she added. "He always says that he doesn't want to be the star of the show. He does not want to be spoken about, do his best, avoid controversy, but, when it does happen, he beats himself up - he really wants perfection."

Video replays spark fury

Ridley found himself at the centre of a major controversy on his Six Nations debut this year as video replays showed he and his team missed an incident that could have changed the outcome of a match and with it a part of tournament history.

Back in February, Italy came within inches of sealing a first ever Six Nations win in France as Ridley awarded them a penalty in the 82nd minute of the clash in Lille - with the scores tied at 13-13 - only for Paolo Garbisi's effort to smack off the upright and miss.

As Garbisi had lined up the decisive kick, however, the ball had toppled off the tee. But with the shot clock ticking down into its final seconds, the panicked Toulon fly-half ended up rushing his strike as he watched it bounce agonisingly wide.

Garbisi was left heartbroken at the full-time whistle as he issued an apology to his teammates and fans, but video replays soon suggested that he should have been given a second chance to convert the kick.

As the fly-half went to reset the ball on the tee, French players could be seen encroaching forward in an attempt to close down the shot. However, World Rugby rules state that a team should be awarded a penalty 10 metres in front of the original mark if an opposing team infringes on an unsuccessful kick.

Nevertheless, the incident went unnoticed by Ridley and his team, with Italian fans left furious and pundits insisting that France should have been punished for what happened.

"Once that French player encroaches the ten metres, that's now a penalty offence. At a minimum the shot (clock) should go back to 60 seconds," said former Ireland international Ian Madigan. “Through the letter of the law, the penalty should be awarded where the French players encroach, and then you can see the French player Sebastiano Tao also moves forward as Garbisi is taking his kick, which does affect your eyeline as a kicker.

"[There are] two infractions. In my opinion the ref should have taken control there and given at least 60 seconds for the kick to be taken and ensured the French players stayed standing still.”

Clash with Man United star

Ridley hit out at former Manchester United star Gary Neville during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar over comments he made during England's quarter-final exit to France.

The ITV pundit was less than impressed with the performance of referee Wilton Sampaio as England were eliminated from the tournament and took to X/ Twitter to write: "Ref is a joke!". He later said of the official: “He had an absolute nightmare. A joke of a referee. I’m not saying it was all down to England’s defeat – people will say it is excuses – but he’s just a bad referee, rank bad.”

However, Ridley wasn't happy with the United icon's tweet and fired back shortly after, telling him: "The ripple effect of this tweet impacts refereeing standards in the long term.

"Even for those who do pick up a whistle, in the end all you’re left with is the referees that are able to tolerate and survive … not the actual best referees! Unknowingly this damages the game."

Scotland v South Africa referee lineup

• Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)

• Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (England) and Craig Evans (Wales)
  

• Television Match Official: Ian Tempest (England)

• Split Screen: Tual Trainini (France)