RISING refereeing star Luke Pearce says he enjoyed his eye-opening two-week stint officiating in the Russian National Championships.

The 21-year-old, who is the RFU's youngest top-flight referee, says the Russian style of rugby took a bit of getting used to.

But the Exeter official believes the experience will stand him in good stead for the future.

Pearce said: "It's a totally different way of rugby over there.

"The ball takes a while to come back from the rucks and mauls.

"The scrums are very good and very technically correct, but in areas like the tackle and maul they roll away very slowly.

"In fact, for the first 10 minutes, my positioning was out of sync because it was so much slower. It does make it easier because you are not blowing so hard and so you can concentrate even more."

Pearce has been on the RFU's National Refereeing Panel for three years and is currently officiating in the restructured Championship.

In Russia he refereed one of the six semi-final matches as well as the third place play-off match, both played at the Locomotive Stadium in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, before moving on to Moscow to take charge of the final.

Pearce said: "Siberia was the first time I've worn black skin-tight tights to referee in!

"Far fewer of the players there spoke English, but when it came to words such as 'ruck' or 'scrum' they all understood.

"To issue a warning to any of the players I did need a translator but, usually, one of the players in the teams would be able to translate.

"It was excellent and you learn a lot from refereeing different types of rugby. There are different skills levels out there you don't get in this country and it was also a different culture, different rugby and a different way of life."