| Birth name | Paul Williams | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 11 April 1985 | ||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Waverly, Taranaki, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| School | Francis Douglas Memorial College | ||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Paul Williams (born 11 April 1985) is a professional rugby union referee from New Zealand who currently referees in the Super Rugby competition and in international test matches.[1]
Williams started refereeing in 2011 while still playing at halfback at club level and was appointed to the New Zealand High Performance referee squad in 2014. He quickly rose up the domestic ranks of refereeing, ultimately becoming a full-time referee on the Super Rugby panel in 2016, the first ever from Taranaki.[2]
Williams refereed the 2016 World Rugby U20 Championship final between England and Ireland.[3]
In June 2017, Williams took charge of his first international test match, between Italy and Scotland in Singapore.[4]
In 2018, Williams refereed eight Super Rugby matches as well as three further Tier 1 tests.
Williams was selected to referee at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Williams was the first New Zealand born referee to officiate an All Blacks’ test in 40 years when he controlled the first match of the 2020 Bledisloe Cup series at Sky Stadium in Wellington on 10 October, 2020.