Scottish official Hollie Davidson to referee England v New Zealand Women's World Cup final

Scotland’s Hollie Davidson has been appointed to referee the women’s World Cup final between England and New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday.

Scottish referee Hollie Davidson will be in charge of New Zealand v England on Saturday.

She becomes the second Scottish official to control a women’s World Cup final, following Jim Fleming in 1994.

It will be Davidson’s 26th Test as a referee, with South African Aimee Barrett-Theron and France’s Aurelie Groizeleau appointed as her assistants, World Rugby said.

English referee Sara Cox, meanwhile, will control the bronze medal match between Canada and France in Auckland on Saturday.

World Rugby’s referee talent development manager Alhambra Nievas said: “For Hollie, 2022 has been a remarkable year.

“She has taken charge of some of the biggest competitions across sevens and 15s, including the women’s finals at the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens.

“She also created history when she was the first female appointed to referee a men’s Six Nations team with Italy’s 38-31 victory over Portugal.”

Davidson thought she had missed out on the latter stages of the tournament after being left out of the semi-final matches.

The Aboyne-born referee 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, a thing that you dream of, but you never know if they will come to fruition.

“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 genuinely don’t think any year will ever live up to this one.”