Welsh referee Nigel Owens will take charge of Ireland’s crunch Pool D Rugby World Cup clash with France on 11 October.
The appointments for the pool stages of the World Cup were announced on Wednesday.
Owens is widely regarded to be one of the world's finest officials
New Zealand’s Glen Jackson will be the man in the middle for Joe Schmidt’s side’s opening game against Canada on 19 September; South African Craig Joubert will take charge of the game against Romania on 27 September; Jérôme Garcès of France will officiate Ireland’s clash with Italy on Sunday, 4 October.
