Hollie Davidson feared she had missed out on the chance to referee this weekend’s Women’s Rugby World Cup final in New Zealand.
The Aboyne-born official will take charge of the final between England and hosts New Zealand on Saturday.
Davidson, who became Scottish Rugby’s first full-time professional female referee in 2017, thought she had “missed out” on the final after not being appointed to either of the semi-finals.
She said: “When my name was read for the final, I couldn’t believe it.
“It’s a very proud moment to be appointed to referee the final. [It’s a] thing that you dream of, but you never know if they will come to fruition.”
It has been an incredible year for Davidson, who refereed at the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby World Cup sevens. She was also the first female appointed to referee a men’s Six Nations team, with Italy’s 38-31 victory over Portugal in June.
She said: “Back in September 2021, we set out a plan of how the year would look and what we wanted to achieve, and the end goal was to put myself in a position to referee the World Cup Final; to think it’s now happening is crazy.
“I’ve done my first Tier 1 men’s Test fixture, refereed the 7s World Cup final and now to do the 15s World Cup final, I genuinely don’t think any year will ever live up to this one.”
Davidson says she will try to stick to her regular routines ahead of this weekend’s showpiece game.
She added: “I’ll try and keep the week as normal as possible, and try to remember, it’s just a game of rugby.
“The excitement is there for sure, but I don’t think it will fully sink in until after the game is done. I’ll then be able to fully reflect and appreciate the achievement.”
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