{"id":802137,"date":"2026-10-14T08:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802137\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T08:36:23","slug":"match-officials-confirmed-for-england-v-tonga-as-chris-kendall-and-liam-moore-decisions-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/802137\/","title":{"rendered":"Match officials confirmed for England v Tonga as Chris Kendall and Liam Moore decisions made"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2400\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OH9_0019.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>England have found out who will referee their opening Rugby League World Cup group stage match against Tonga on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>NRL-based referee Gerard Sutton will take the whistle in Perth, with the Australian taking charge of his first game involving England\/Great Britain since the Lions tour in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The 47-year-old has overseen six NRL Grand Finals in his career and was the man in the middle during England\u2019s 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final defeat to Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Joining him in the match officials team are Dave Munro and Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski. Ashley Klein, who is a former Super League referee, will be the video referee, or the \u2018bunker official\u2019 as it is called down under.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, calls have been made on the three English-based referees. All of Chris Kendall, Liam Moore and Tara Jones have landed gigs in the opening week of action, with Kendall set to oversee the men\u2019s match between Fiji and the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n<p>Moore, who refereed the 2026 Super League Grand Final, will take charge of Papua New Guinea v France in the women\u2019s tournament, whilst Jones will have the whistle for England women\u2019s game against Wales that will act as a double header alongside the men.<\/p>\n<p>The end of IMG, retiring Ryan Hall and Rugby League World Cup\u2019s paywall problem<a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=H2W6-6bBhCE&amp;t=1s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n<p>Rugby League World Cup week one referee appointments<\/p>\n<p>*Note: all kick-off times are noted in UK time.<\/p>\n<p>Men\u2019s tournament:<br \/>\nAustralia vs New Zealand \u2013 Thursday 16 October @ 10:05 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Adam Gee<br \/>Touch judges: Matt Noyen and Tyson Brough<br \/>Bunker official: Chris Butler<\/p>\n<p>Samoa vs France \u2013 Friday 16th October @ 7:45 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Ashley Klein<br \/>Touch judges: Kieren Irons and Daniel Luttringer<br \/>Bunker official: Chris Butler<\/p>\n<p>Papua New Guinea vs Lebanon \u2013 Saturday 17th October @ 5:25 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Grant Atkins<br \/>Touch judges: Michael Wise and Jarrod Cole<br \/>Bunker official: Liam Kennedy<\/p>\n<p>England vs Tonga \u2013 Saturday 17th October @ 10:05 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Gerard Sutton<br \/>Touch judges: Dave Munro and Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski<br \/>Bunker official: Ashley Klein<\/p>\n<p>Fiji vs Cook Islands \u2013 Sunday 18th October @ 6:05 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Chris Kendall<br \/>Touch judges: Jon Stone and Drew Oultram<br \/>Bunker official: Wyatt Raymond<\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s tournament:<br \/>\nAustralia vs Samoa \u2013 Friday 16th October @ 10:05 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Kasey Badger<br \/>Touch judges: Karra-Lee Nolan and Izzy Davidson<br \/>Bunker official: Peter Gough<\/p>\n<p>Papua New Guinea vs France \u2013 Saturday 17th October @ 3:15 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Liam Moore<br \/>Touch judges: Geoffrey Poumes and Dillan Wells<br \/>Bunker official: Todd Smith<\/p>\n<p>England vs Wales \u2013 Saturday 17th October @ 07:35 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Tara Jones<br \/>Touch judges: Tori Wilkie and Rochelle Tamarua<br \/>Bunker official: Peter Gough<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand vs Fiji \u2013 Sunday 18th October @ 3:50 am<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Belinda Sharpe<br \/>Touch judges: Paki Parkinson and Jack Feavers<br \/>Bunker official: Peter Gough<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791966983_486_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England have found out who will referee their opening Rugby League World Cup group stage match against Tonga&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-802137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}