Rugby World Cup 2023: who is the referee, TMO and touch judges for England vs Samoa?

England are looking to end the Rugby World Cup pool stages on a high.

Steve Borthwick's men have qualified for the quarter-finals having won all three games so far. A rotated England side put the sword to Chile and ran out 71-0 winners in the third round.

After a rest week, England will be back in action against a tough Samoa side. But the English will be boosted by the return of Tom Curry who has finished his ban after being sent off against Argentina on the opening weekend.

Manu Samoa have won one game so far and hopes of making the knock-out stages took a massive dent in a loss to Japan last week. The Pacific Islanders will have an eye on a huge upset in their final pool stage game.

But who.are the match officials for the game at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille on Saturday, 7 October. Here's all you need to know:

Who is the referee for England vs Samoa?

Irish match official Andrew Brace will be taking charge of the match in Lille on Saturday evening. It will be his third match of the tournament and his first since Australia vs Fiji in the second round.

Brace is a former professional rugby player, who represented Belgium internationally, he made his Pro14 referee debut in 2015. Since taking up refereeing he has taken charge of European Champions and Challenge Cup matches.

He made his debut in test matches in 2017 - being the referee for a match between Canada and Georgia. Brace served as a touch judge at the 2019 world cup and has refereed matches at the Six Nations. The Irish official also took charge of Italy's game with Namibia on opening weekend.

Brace has served as a touch judge as well throughout the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Who is the TMO and touch judges?

Brace will be joined by Georgian official Nika Amashukeli and Irish referee Chris Busby as his touch judges. Ahmashukeli has refereed a number of games during the tournament - including Australia's win over Portugal last weekend.

The TMO will be Irish official Brian MacNeice.

How to watch England vs Samoa?

The game will be televised by ITV - who have exclusive broadcast rights for the tournament. It will broadcast on ITV1 and also be streamed on ITVX.

Coverage of the game will begin at 4.15pm ahead of kick-off at 4.45pm. It is one of three games live on ITV1 on Saturday, 7 October - including the titanic Ireland vs Scotland match.