'There’s times where you love it and times where you have a dark week'

The 35-year-old has been the man in the middle for Six Nations games, a URC final, the Challenge Cup final, the Bledisloe Cup, and lots more tough, tight Tests matches. He’s now getting ready to be one of the main referees in the World Cup for the first time.

“It was a bittersweet moment because he is one of the first people I wanted to ring and say I had been selected,” says Brace. It’s the first time in two decades that Ireland has had four officials and speaks volumes of the focus the IRFU has put into developing this side of the game. The Irish crew are a tight-knit group who train together and review games with each other openly. This is the side of refereeing we don’t generally see – the excruciating detail in which their performances are picked apart.

“There could be five or six different channels of review before the game is put to bed,” he says. “On top of that, you’re prepping for the next game.” “You get those scars from big games,” says Brace. “You’re trying to fix it the next time you get a big game. “My dad was always the best around the communication side of things as a teacher and chief executive of the General Teaching Council for Wales. I used to come off the pitch and he would tell me that I wasn’t myself. I think it comes with experience, it’s an art.“I spoke to Paulie around it and he was saying that the referee has got to allow the players to have their voice. It’s listening to understand rather than listening to reply.

One of the reasons Lacey has pushed them to be in with the Irish teams is because it helps so much with their understanding of the set-piece, particularly the scrum – an area in which most referees never set foot when they played. And sometimes Brace and the other referees have to change their view on incidents. He points to the recent example involving Argentina’s Juan Cruz Mallía colliding with the head of South Africa’s Grant Williams after blocking down his kick.“I had to shift around that Mallía incident,” says Brace. “It was a genuine attempt to go for the ball, a realistic position to get the ball because he charged it down.

“I know that if I want to go looking for it, it’s going to be there,” says Brace. “Why would I go searching for that when it would just drain my emotional energy?

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