Here's the full lowdown on the man set to take charge of Wales v Italy at the Principality Stadium

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The curtain is set to come down on another thrilling Six Nations Championship, and Wales will look to end their campaign on a high after failing to defend their title.

Wayne Pivac's side take on perennial whipping boys Italy at the Principality Stadium on the final Saturday of the competition, with little on the line except pride.

Much of the attention has surrounded Welsh number 10 Dan Biggar, who is poised to become the seventh man to win 100 caps for Wales, as well as the return of titanic skipper Alun Wyn Jones - the latter set to win his 150th cap after sitting out with a shoulder injury for the last five months. Italy, meanwhile, will hope to halt a sorry run of 36 consecutive Six Nations defeats.

Read next:Follow Wales v Italy live here now

At the heart of it all, will be referee Andrew Brace, a man who is no stranger to the spotlight. The Irishman, who was actually born and bred in Cardiff, will take charge of a Six Nations match for the first time in this year's competition, having previously been an assistant for Italy v England and Italy v Scotland.

Although born in Wales, he moved between here and Ireland during his younger years and worked across the Irish sea for years as a community officer for Munster before getting into refereeing. He is assigned to the Irish Rugby Union and can therefore referee Wales matches despite being born here. He has also played rugby for Belgium, who he qualifies for through his father's family.

The 33-year-old refereed his first Test in 2017, a 2019 World Cup qualifier between Canada and the United States, before taking the whistle for England's clash with the Barbarians later that year.

His first game involving Wales came the following year, with Brace named as the man in the middle for their Test with Argentina. Last year, the 33-year-old was in the middle for two Six Nations clashes, including Scotland's historic win over England at Twickenham.

It's safe to say life as a referee isn't easy at the best of times, with Brace himself once admitting: “One of the best bits of advice I ever received was that if you’re not being talked about afterwards, you’ve had a good game.”

That certainly wasn't the case back in 2020 when he oversaw a controversial win for England over France in the Autumn Nations Cup final.

England eased their way to victory that day, despite officials appearing to miss a knock-on in the build-up to a try that forced the contest into extra time.

There were a couple of other big decisions that the French felt didn't go their way that day, with head coach Fabien Galthié saying after the match that "the game was won by decisions not actions... losing because of decisions is hard".

Assistant Shaun Edwards told BT Sport after the match: "We'd like to have a bit of an explanation about the knock-on in the last tackle which led to a try.

"There was a knock-on in the lead-up. The referees can't see everything and neither can the touch judges but we were a little bit disappointed... the TMO could have interfered in that decision."

What followed was a torrent of online abuse from angry French fans.

"As well as the death threats, I had people telling me never to come back to France again," he told RugbyPass. "I had more than a thousand messages on Instagram and someone made a parody profile of me on Twitter just to abuse me.

“The first tweet they’d have seen was about my Dad’s obituary. My Dad went on a road trip where he’d traced his father’s footsteps from World War II. That was my pinned tweet at the top of my page and they jumped on it saying I was a shit referee, that I’d ruined the game.

"Some of them were asking how much I’d been paid to get England over the line. One of the messages my sister got said none of my family should ever come to France again, another said they hoped I’d die of Covid. ‘I hope your family die of Covid, you piece of shit’.”

The abuse was so intense that Brace was removed from officiating a Champions Cup match between Toulouse and Exeter Chiefs.

However, Brace has continued to press on with his career, doing his best to rise above the social media trolls, and instead focusing on the positive influences in his life.

On his match whistle, there's the inscription " Sempur Sursum', a phrase that holds a special significance.

“It’s something that is certainly close to my heart because it was dad’s motto when he was a teacher," he told Ruck.co.uk.

“Roughly translated it means “ever onwards, always aiming high”.