Rolland retired as a player at the start of the professional era and began refereeing, with his first Test appointment coming on 19 September 2001 when Wales beat Romania 81–9 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

He made his Six Nations refereeing debut six months later, when France beat Scotland 22–10 at Murrayfield, with his first Tri-Nations match following in July 2003, with New Zealand's record 52–16 defeat of South Africa.

[3] Rolland, along with fellow Irishman George Clancy, was selected to a ten-man referee panel for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

[5] On 22 February 2014, Rolland refereed his last International match as Wales defeated France 27–6 in the 2014 Six Nations Championship at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

In March 2016 Alain was appointed as World Rugby's 'High Performance 15s Match Officials' Manager', having previously worked as a mortgage broker in Dublin.