SCOTTISH referee Hollie Davidson is to make her Guinness PRO14 debut this weekend after being allocated Saturday afternoon’s match between Glasgow Warriors and Benetton Rugby.
Davidson is the latest product of the Guinness PRO14’s elite referee pathway and follows in the footsteps of Joy Neville in becoming the second female official to be appointed to a Championship fixture.
The 28-year-old played scrum-half for Scotland at Under 20s level before moving into refereeing. She was selected at the Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens (2017), Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens (2018), Women’s Six Nations (2019 & 2020) in addition to her numerous appointments as an assistant referee in the Guinness PRO14.
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She was supposed to take charge of her first men’s professional match on 16th January, when she was allocated the European Challenge Cup round three clash between Newcastle Falcons and Castres, before the tournament was put on ice due to Covid.
“Our elite referee pathway has greatly improved in recent years thanks to the efforts of our unions working together and it is very rewarding to see Hollie Davidson earn the right to make her debut on Saturday,” said Greg Garner, Elite Referee Manager of PRO14 Rugby.
“This pathway has been put in place to identify match officials with the potential to referee at Test level and as a result we have now seen Andy Brace (IRFU) and Mike Adamson (SRU) appointed for Guinness Six Nations games this season. In addition, Joy Neville (IRFU) has also performed the role of TMO in Round 1 of the Six Nations.
“We have a competitive group of referees now and it is great to see younger officials pushing through looking to hold the whistle on the biggest occasions.
“Andy Macpherson, Tappe Henning and their team at Scottish Rugby have played a huge role in putting Hollie into this position and ensuring she was given the right opportunities to progress her refereeing career. Hollie now gets her opportunity to perform and we all expect her to kick on and join the likes of Adam Jones, Craig Evans (WRU) and Chris Busby (IRFU) in working to establish themselves firmly in our Elite Referee Squad.”
Davidson is a regular on the match official panel for the Sevens World Series and had been slated for the Tokyo Olympics prior to its rescheduling.
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Excellent news to see another Scot getting to that level.
Good news. Well done Holly
Someone disagrees it seems. Would be interesting to hear their reasons!
Would change slated to selected in second last line of the article.
Why, slated is a valid word to use in the context it is given.