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Australian-born Ireland international Mack Hansen could find himself in hot water after going on a sustained rant about the refereeing of his club team Connacht after All Black Jordie Barrett’s high hit on Hansen’s Test team-mate Bundee Aki at the weekend. there is.
The incident occurred as Barrett’s Leinster beat Connacht 20-12 on Sunday (AEDT).
Barrett avoided sanction for a tackle on Bundee Aki that Hansen felt was illegal, and the Test winger made his feelings known in a surprising post-match press conference, insisting his team were consistently on the wrong side of officials.
“Bundee took a direct hit to the head (from Jordie Barrett), it’s very clear, it’s a no-call,” Hansen said.
“I feel like I hear that all the time. You can hear the frustration in my voice. It’s starting to get to the point where, frankly, it’s going to be bullshit and we’re starting to get really frustrated. Because people will say we are inconsistent. But gosh, if you get some of the calls we get, of course you’re frustrated.
“I have no intention of making excuses in any way. But when we get it every week, I think we should talk about it. Because it got to the point where it started to really upset us because we felt like we were getting tired of the game and we weren’t getting any calls.”
As well as the Barrett incident, Hansen pointed to a moment when his team-mate Josh Ioane was forced off for HIA but no sanction was imposed.
“Josh took another direct hit to the head and I was talking to the touchee and he said, ‘Oh, when you tackle, you lead with your head,’” Hansen said.
“That makes no sense. Anyway, it’s a fine. In reality, he said he hit his head with his head, but since he bent over, it was okay or something like that. There was no call at all and no turning around when he hit me in the back of the head. We hear that all the time. so… If he says something like that, he’s going to be in a tough spot. It just needs to be said. It’s really annoying when they start pulling us together as a team.”
Hansen could be fined or suspended for his criticism.
Hansen sat next to coach Pete Wilkins, who smiled wryly during the Test star’s tirade against four IRFU officials – referee Chris Busby, assistant referees Peter Martin and Stuart Gaffikin and TMO Mark Patton.
“We all appreciate Mack’s honesty,” Wilkins said.
“It’s difficult when it comes to the referees’ performance. We often talk about TMO gigs where we can’t actually meet in person.
“Feeding back complaints to a referee doesn’t make him feel better because he agrees with some of the feedback or knows he was right. Or they disagree with you which doesn’t make them feel better because they can’t believe you don’t see eye to eye about it.
“All we can control is continuing to give feedback and then see how we go. We focus our energy on what we can control and what we can do better, especially when we are losing. “I just hope everyone else in the game does something similar.”
