Irish rugby fans are well used to seeing Hollie Davidson as the woman in the middle but this Saturday marks a new altitude for a referee who has crashed through the glass ceiling.
Her appearance as referee for Ulster v Cardiff two weeks ago marked her 26th URC game in charge, while she was also on the line for Munster's fateful Champions Cup defeat to Castres in January.
The 33-year-old Scot returns to Irish shores this weekend, making more history as she becomes the first female referee to take charge of a men's Six Nations game when she blows the whistle at 2.10pm in Dublin to signal the start of Ireland v Italy.
It's been a hard road for the former Scotland Under-20 international, who only missed out on a senior cap due to injury.
The life of a referee is never easy and that truth holds more so for a female in a predominantly male-oriented sport.
Ireland's Joy Neville was an original trailblazer in the field.
The Limerick woman, a 2013 Grand Slam winner, had a number of firsts to her name including becoming the first female to referee a Challenge Cup game back in 2017 and a Pro14 game in 2018, while she also served as a television match official during the men's World Cup in 2023.
While Neville was one of the few who led the way, Davidson has established herself at the top of the game and this Saturday's appointment marks a new high for a referee who has already taken charge of the last two Women's World Cup finals, and who last November refereed Wales v New Zealand in the Autumn Nations Series.
Her whistling journey began in 2015 soon after a shoulder injury ended the scrum-half's hopes of a Scottish cap.
She quit her job with her job at JP Morgan in 2017 to go full-time and by 2022 she had been appointed to referee the men's Test between Portugal and Italy.
In 2025 she was named World Rugby Referee of the Year.
It's been quite the rise.
Among her early memories on the windswept fields was a match outside Edinburgh when she was subjected to "all the classics" from a vocal crowd.
"The stuff shouted from the sidelines was ridiculous" Davidson, who grew up in Aboyne outside Aberdeen, told the Guardian.
"It was all about where I should be instead of a pitch or that I should be doing other things with my Saturday than refereeing a game.
"There would be indications of where I should go after the game for players to do whatever they wanted with me."
It would have been easy to put away the whistle and return to a safe job in banking, Davidson opted to take a chance and it's led to a what felt "so far away, an unachievable goal".
"When you start out, you think what you could achieve and you dream of certain things," Davidson, who was an assistant referee in the Six Nations game between England and Wales two years ago, said in the Times.
"But then you get into it and you start questioning those ambitions. Something like the Six Nations, that just felt so far away, an unachievable goal. Now that it's happening, I can’t quite believe it’s becoming a reality."
There aren't many sports where referees are immune to criticism and the higher the profile the more pointed it can become.
Reflecting on one of the toughest moments in her career - an incorrect call during the Challenge Cup final between Bath and Lyon in Cardiff (above) last season - another landmark game for a female official - she revealed that the reaction crossed the line.
"I made a wrong call on a head contact and my name was being pulled through the mud and then my family received abuse," she said.
"It really challenged me when I thought I was causing my family pain.
"You have to accept this is part and parcel of our job. But I hope we don’t get to a point where the only people left at the top are the people that can hack it.
"Because then we don’t have the best officials, we just have the people with thicker skins."
This Saturday the Azzurri will arrive at Aviva Stadium looking to make their own history as they search for a first ever championship win in Dublin.
It's a long shot for the Italians but before they get their chance, the woman in white will be the history-maker.
Watch Ireland v Italy in the Under-20 Six Nations on Friday from 7.25pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Watch Scotland v England on RTÉ Player
Follow a live blog on Ireland v Italy in the Six Nations on Saturday from 2.10pm on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie
