Rugby union match officials Rugby union match officials Rugby union match officials are responsible for enforcing the rugby union laws of the game during a match and imposing sanctions on individuals who do not follow the rules. "Every match is under the control of match officials who consist of the referee and two touch judges or assistant referees." Further officials can be authorised depending on the level and form of the game. When the game of rugby union was developed at Rugby school, there were no official rugby referees. It was not until many years later when the game began to spread internationally that
William Cross (rugby union) William Cross (rugby union) William Cross (circa 1851 - 16 October 1890) was a Scottish rugby internationalist. He is notable for scoring the first conversion in international rugby in 1871 in the match between and , after Angus Buchanan scored a pushover try, and he also 's second ever try later in the match. Cross represented Scotland in 1871 in the first international match. Of the Scottish score, one of the English players wrote: At the time, conversions and goals, not tries produced a score, so in fact Cross, not Buchanan was the first to put points on the board.