A Carlisle referee is rapidly making a name for himself north of the border with two big appointments.

Ben Blain will make his competition debut in the Guinness PRO14 as he takes charge of Dragons’ home clash against Munster this afternoon.

He will then head to Stade de la Rabine where he will take charge of France’s Under-20s Six Nations opener when they play host to Wales on February 3. 

Blain, who came through the various age-groups playing at Carlisle, made a surprise decision to abandon a promising career to take up the whistle in his early 20s and learnt his trade in the county.

“It was obvious he had made a good decision because he won instant praise and made excellent progress,” said Carlisle secretary David Morton.

“I gather he could have officiated in the Championship but the vast majority of the games are played in the south and, with his work commitments, it was virtually impossible.”

As a result, Blain joined Scottish Rugby’s referee team in June last year and gained experience as a member of the Premiership Panel before being promoted to the Elite Panel in December. He is a member of the Borders Referees Society.

Blain has refereed three Heineken Challenge Cup matches to date, travelling to Zebre and Treviso and is also set to take charge of the tier two international encounter between Belgium and Georgia in March. 

On his appointments this week, Blain said: “I’m very excited and really looking forward to the next challenge in my refereeing career and taking the next step in the Guinness PRO14. 

“My ambition is to get more games at this level and go as far as I can in the world of refereeing.

“Scottish Rugby has been supportive and given me plenty of opportunities so far.”

Dave Pearson, Scottish Rugby’s high performance referee manager, added: “Ben becomes the fourth member of the Scottish Rugby Elite match officials panel to referee in the PRO14 this season following Mike Adamson, Lloyd Linton and Sam Grove-White.

"This is a clear indication that the processes and systems that we have in place at the SRU High Performance referee group are working and we are starting to produce a steady stream of referees selected for professional tournaments.”