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Six Nations

Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: Michele Lamaro of Italy leads the team out prior to the Guinness Six Nations 2025 match between England and Italy at Allianz Stadium on March 09, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Federugby via Getty Images)

As a result of the travel disruption caused by the conflict in the Middle East, there has been a change to the team of match officials for the Italy vs England clash in Rome.

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Australian Nic Berry was due to be an assistant referee for the match in Rome but he’s been grounded and will now be replaced by Scotland’s Sam Grove-White.

It’ll be the second time Grove-White has been involved in this year’s championship, having run touch in France’s record 54-12 win over Wales in Cardiff.

VIDEO

Pierre Brousset of France takes on the role of AR1 following Berry’s withdrawal, while Grove-White will act as AR2.

Brousset’s countryman Luc Ramos remains as the match referee and will make his Six Nations debut in Rome.  England are yet to lose with Ramos in the middle, beating Japan 52-17 in June 2024 and Argentina 22-17 last July.

Steve Borthwick’s side are becoming accustomed to match official disruption, having seen Andrea Piardi limp off half an hour into their round three defeat to Ireland with a leg muscle injury.

According to rugby historian, James Stafford, it’s the sixth time a referee has been replaced during an England match due to injury, and the first since 2011.

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The updated appointments in full for Italy vs England are:

Ref: Luc Ramos (France)
AR1: Pierre Brousset (France)
AR2: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)
FPRO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

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Comments

6 Comments
f
fl 1 hr ago

Hilarious that everyone clutched their pearls over Ukraine, but this article doesn’t even mention that the Zionists started this war.


Should the 2031 world cup get a new host nation? No! Because World Rugby are disgusting hypocrites.

J
John Breslin 1 hr ago

‘conflict’ is such a comfy term for indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas

T
Tom 1 hr ago

F**k sake. War is such an inconvenience.

H
Hammer Head 1 hr ago

Agreed. How selfish.

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PMcD 8 minutes ago
Six Nations half-term report: 'France lead the charge in struggle for the soul of rugby'

You are never going to win every game but when you are so far off and you just keep doing more of the same and hoping for a different result, you can lose people pretty quickly in this game. 🤣🤣

They literally dropped from a 9/10 performance against NZ to a 5/10 performance and good teams don’t allow that level of inconsistency.



...

314 Go to comments
N
NB 17 minutes ago
Six Nations half-term report: 'France lead the charge in struggle for the soul of rugby'

Sure he was, but you omit…

[1] that his presence on D reduced the Boks pack to 7 without the ball, and



...

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Soliloquin 24 minutes ago
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Woki has already scored 9 tries for UBB this season!

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John Breslin 28 minutes ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

God bless you. And thank you

Please try to keep the price of oil reasonable - if you can



...

6 Go to comments
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Tom 39 minutes ago
Wave of mid-tier players heading abroad is hurting the All Blacks

I haven't followed NZR for a few years but I can't help but feel the relentless drain of talent is a huge net negative. You can argue there is a constant turnover to bring on new blood but there is so much less completion for places as strength in depth is diminished.

38 Go to comments
T
Tom 47 minutes ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

Sir,

We at the American government would like to remind you that we are liberating civilians from [oil rich nation] because [CIA installed dictator] is a threat to world peace and is stockpiling [Chemical/Biological/Nuclear] weapons. We must save the [non-white people] from this tyrant and support [US puppet] in the name of Freedom and Democracy.



...

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J
John Breslin 1 hour ago
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Never forget, never forgive!

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Soliloquin 1 hour ago
Why it's time to stop using Lions rigours as an excuse for French supremacy

Thanks for sharing the story of Tosi’s transition from back row to prop!

Do you happen to know what did it take him to make that change, or just some insights of how it went all along, with his franchises and then with the ABs?



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AA 1 hour ago
'In their psyche, their DNA... to change is difficult for England': Eddie Jones

It’s not just the kicking game, it’s having the personell on the pitch who know when and be able to alter course if that is not working.

Ford has over 100 caps. Is not a novice. Yet does not have a running game in his armoury so relenkessly keeps to plan A.



...

5 Go to comments
J
John Breslin 1 hour ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

‘conflict’ is such a comfy term for indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas

6 Go to comments
T
TheNotoriousFig 1 hour ago
Six Nations half-term report: 'France lead the charge in struggle for the soul of rugby'

So who benefits from these proposed changes?

It sounds to me that these proposed adjustments to the laws coming from Aus/NZ are still really about television and associated revenue and capturing the casual or new to the sport viewer. Which is why the game turned pro in the first place. Rugby league is a great game and it is not rugby union and vice versa. Do Rugby Australia really think that they will capture market share from League? Why not introduce the mark anywhere on the field to see if they can snag some Aussie Rules fans as well?



...

314 Go to comments
a
ai 1 hour ago
Rob Penney on Chay Fihaki's 'best in the world' skillset

Oh, too much to talk about the crusaders when they defeat a team like the chiefs but not mentioning losing at home from an Australian team ,like half a century with the title super rugby champions 2025 in the cabinet. I remember when the chiefs played crusaders in Fiji 2019 ,round 16 ,when they were leading 20 to nil and chiefs came from behind and won the game ,40-27. So be rest assured that chiefs can always come back.

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fl 1 hour ago
Ex-All Blacks boss Scott Robertson's next role in rugby revealed

“Why did Rassie have to ditch TBs attack then?”

Because attack takes a long time to bed in



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f
fl 1 hour ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

Hilarious that everyone clutched their pearls over Ukraine, but this article doesn’t even mention that the Zionists started this war.

Should the 2031 world cup get a new host nation? No! Because World Rugby are disgusting hypocrites.



...

6 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 1 hour ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

Agreed. How selfish.

6 Go to comments
T
Tom 1 hour ago
Middle East conflict impacts Italy vs England Six Nations clash

F**k sake. War is such an inconvenience.

6 Go to comments
T
Tom 1 hour ago
'In their psyche, their DNA... to change is difficult for England': Eddie Jones

Yep this is it. The arm wrestle approach is useful and should be part of the armoury but if England's ambition is too modest, they will get stung by sides who can score from nowhere and find themselves unable to get back into the game in increments of 3.

5 Go to comments
c
cw 2 hours ago
Six Nations half-term report: 'France lead the charge in struggle for the soul of rugby'

Disagree. To ignore it is to ignore the plain facts NB. He was plainly instrumental in maintaining forward dominance at key times.

314 Go to comments
T
Tom 2 hours ago
Burned Six Nations trophy 'retired' after road traffic incident

Jaysus! Ireland take home the 6N trophy and bring back one made partially out of a recycled transit van. Not doing stereotypes any favours here lads.

5 Go to comments
T
Timmyboy 2 hours ago
Burned Six Nations trophy 'retired' after road traffic incident

An Irish Ford transit? Surely there’ll be some tarmac in there too!!

5 Go to comments
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