Williams to referee Heineken Cup quarter-final

NIGEL WILLIAMS will referee the Heineken Cup quarter-final between defending champions Leicester Tigers and Munster - a repeat of last season's thrilling Millennium Stadium final.

The 42-year-old Welsh official has been appointed for the Sunday, 13 April, tie in front of the BBC Grandstand cameras - three weeks after making his Six Nations debut by taking charge of Italy against France in Rome in his fifth major international. His appointment will be generally welcomed in Munster on the basis that they have played under his control on a number of occasions and there has been no major controversy with his handling of the games to date.

English referees Tony Spreadbury and Steve Lander will be charge of the Llanelli v Perpignan and Leinster Lions v Biarritz Olympique matches respectively, with Irish official Alan Lewis travelling to France for Northampton Saints’ clash with Toulouse.

The match officials for all the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup and Parker Pen Challenge Cup are appointed by the ERC Match Officials sub-committee strictly on merit.

And matches in all three tournaments will now have live television coverage with the first leg of the Parker Pen Shield semi-final between Petrarca Padova and Caerphilly being broadcast by Italian station Tele +.

The full list of appointments, kick-off times (all local time) and television coverage for the next round of ERC tournaments, are:

Heineken Cup quarter finals: 11 April, 1930 Llanelli v Perpignan - Tony Spreadbury (England) BBC Wales.

12 April, 1445 Toulouse v Northampton Saints - Alan Lewis (Ireland) FR2, British Eurosport; 1535 Leinster Lions v Biarritz Olympique - Steve Lander (England) RTÉ, FR2.

13 April, 1600 Leicester Tigers v Munster - Nigel Williams (Wales) BBC Grandstand, RTÉ.

Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-finals, first leg: 12 April, 1730 London Wasps v Pontypridd - Alain Rolland (Ireland) S4C.

13 April, 1500 Saracens v Bath Rugby - Joel Jutge (France).

Second Leg: 26 April: 1905 Pontypridd v London Wasps - Joel Dume (France) BBC Wales.

1415 Bath Rugby v Saracens - David McHugh (Ireland).

Parker Pen Shield semi-finals, first leg: 12 April, 1600 Petrarca Padova v Caerphilly - Gregg Davies (Scotland) Tele +; TBC Castres Olympique v Pau - Giulio De Santis (Italy).

Second Leg: 26 April, 1430 Caerphilly v Petrarca Padova - Eric Darriere (France).

1900 Pau v Castres Olympique - Roy Maybank (England).