URC ref at centre of Mack Hansen storm still ‘available for selection’ as officiating chief claims they have ‘a thicker skin than an elephant’

Irish referee Chris Busby and the URC's head of match officials Tappe Henning.
The referee at the centre of Mack Hansen’s outburst, Chris Busby, has not retired just yet after reports claimed that he could have already officiated his last game.
Ireland star Hansen hit out at the officiating in an expletive-laden press conference following Connacht’s United Rugby Championship defeat to Leinster last month.
The wing slammed what he perceived as inconsistency in the officiating at the Aviva Stadium, although he did not directly criticise the man in the middle.
Reports then emerged that Busby had decided to call it quits midway through the season, but that is not the case, according to the URC’s head of communications Adam Redmond.
Busby running the touchline
On Saturday, the official will return to Dublin to be an assistant referee for Leinster’s encounter against the Stormers at the Aviva Stadium.
Busby’s exact future has not been confirmed, albeit the indication is that the 2024/25 campaign will be his last as a match official.
“For the remainder of the season, he does remain available for selection,” Redmond said.
Hansen’s comments also sparked a wider debate about the abuse of referees and the standards that they are held to.
Some state that there is not enough accountability for their performances and the URC’s head of match officials Tappe Henning addressed that claim.
Henning said that “it takes a special person to be a referee” and that the officials “have a thicker skin than an elephant” after explaining their post-match process.
“The first thing to say is that referees are accountable. They are accountable for their performances to the BKT URC,” he said.
“Every referee is reviewed during a match by a reviewer who makes notes of decisions that may not be accurate or decisions which were not made.
“After the game, on the Monday, the referee will join up with the reviewer and discuss the various incidents to get clarity around those decisions.
“It’s a process designed to make them accountable to URC and to identify flaws in their refereeing so we can assist them in terms of how can we correct those errors, how can we help and support them with advice about how they can do things differently to get a better outcome during the match.
“It’s an evidence-based system, with a 15-second video clip of every incident we talk about.”
Repercussions
Henning also stated that there are repercussions should the referees or match officials not perform to an acceptable standard.
“If a referee has performed to a level of acceptability, they will continue with appointments,” he said.
“If they have shown they have difficulty to perform at this level, with two or three performances where they did not meet the expectations of what is acceptable or good and they have underperformed, there will be a period of remedial work.
“They will do some local games within their union and once their confidence and understanding of the areas they need to improve is visible, they will be given opportunity later in the competition.”