“I was really disappointed with him.”
The big story in Irish rugby over the last week has been Mack Hansen’s sensational press conference following Connacht’s loss to Leinster at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.
The winger labelled the refereeing that his side get as ‘bullshit’ and that it was starting the ‘piss’ him and his teammates off, with fans and pundits divided in their reaction to his words.
Beside him during the press conference was his head coach Pete Wilkins. He was much more diplomatic in his response and said that they would go through the correct channels for answers to what they perceived as incorrect calls.
Such an outburst is rare in rugby, given the respect shown for referees by players. South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus famously received a two-month ban for comments on match officials.
In his podcast ‘The Offload’ with Tommy Bowe, former Munster lock Donncha O’Callaghan criticised Wilkins for not stepping in and taking the heat off Hansen.
He said: “I can see why Mack is frustrated and disappointed. Honestly, I nearly take that as a shame on us, people outside the game, journalists and media. Because that’s been bubbling for a awhile.
“We’ve been chatting about the standard of refereeing. I think we need to do more. I think we need to say it’s getting to this point.
“I think he’ll get in trouble for that, I think he should. I coach at Cork Con under-10s, and what we always say is values of the game and stuff like that, and he has probably breached that. And if you’re going to slap Rassie on the knuckles, you have to have a look at what Mack said.
“But the big frustration for me was Pete Wilkins right beside him. I think a good coach grabs the nettle for his player there. He can sense his frustration and he either stops him to get him out of trouble, or he grabs the nettle himself. All Pete said was ‘we’re going to go through the right process’.
“A paw should have gone across his chest, and either one, grab it, or two, say we’re not going to do it. I was really disappointed with him.”
