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<\/p>\nThe 33-year-old became the first woman to referee a Six Nations match as Ireland took on Italy in Dublin<\/p>\n
Davidson has received praise for her history-making performance(Image: Evan Treacy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Referee Hollie Davidson made history on Saturday as she became the first woman to take charge of a Six Nations<\/a> match.<\/p>\n The 33-year-old was in the middle as Ireland edged past Italy at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Andy Farrell’s side went into the half-time break behind as Italy impressed with an assured first-half performance, with a try from hooker Giacomo Nicotera and the boot of Paolo Garbisi giving them a 10-5 lead at the interval.<\/p>\n But after Jack Conan crossed to draw his side level minutes into the second half, Italy had a try disallowed and Robert Baloucoune went over to help Ireland to a nervy 20-13 win.<\/p>\n JOIN OUR WALES RUGBY FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest news, analysis and much more<\/a><\/p>\n With Italy looking to make history and Ireland desperate to get back to winning ways following their defeat to France last week, it was unsurprisingly a game with plenty of niggle, with tensions spilling over on occasion as scuffles broke out.<\/p>\n However, in an age where seemingly every other Test match is overshadowed by moments of controversy and contentious refereeing decisions, Saturday’s match passed largely without incident.<\/p>\n As a result, Davidson – who was crowned the winner of the World Rugby Referee Award last year – has been praised for her performance in her first Six Nations match, as she kept her cool and did not let the pressure of the occasion get to her.<\/p>\n Get the latest Wales Rugby merch at Fanatics<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a> Various Price<\/p>\n Fanatics<\/p>\n Buy Now on Fanatics<\/a><\/p>\n The Six Nations is running from February 5 to March 14 and Wales Rugby fans can get the latest jerseys, hoodies and more at Fanatics.<\/p>\n In particular, fans were impressed with her authoratitive approach and communication skills, with one taking to X to write: “Enjoying Hollie Davidson in the Ireland vs Italy game.<\/p>\n “Clear coms and no nonsense. If the ref is good enough, their gender is irrelevant. Based on what I\u2019ve seen (granted, not much), not many better refs out there.”<\/p>\n “Just watching Ireland v Italy in the Six Nations,” wrote another. “Hollie Davidson is the ref today. She’s been brilliant so far. Again, how refreshing is it to be able to listen to her every word, to understand her thinking and her decisions.”<\/p>\n Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate<\/a> or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings<\/p>\n A third wrote: “Hollie Davidson reffing this brilliant, her communication is very clear,” while another said: “Unlike so many, Hollie Davidson has absolutely no desire whatsoever to be the main character in the game, and is a far better referee for it.<\/p>\n “Hollie Davidson has refereed this game superbly,” said another, while one said her performance was “flawless”.<\/p>\n “Big respect and congratulations to Hollie Davidson,” wrote one viewer. “The first ever female referee in the Six Nations. She’s had a brilliant game and hopefully she’ll be called on for many more Six Nations games.”<\/p>\n Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here<\/a> and our WhatsApp channel here<\/a> for all the breaking news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 33-year-old became the first woman to referee a Six Nations match as Ireland took on Italy in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[27009,98246,5903,43326,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-426389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-ireland-rugby-team","tag-italy-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-six-nations","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Untitled-11jpeg.jpg\"\/)
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