Dec 22,2024
Mack Hansen blasted the officiating following Connacht's 20-12 URC defeat to Leinster, calling some of the decisions "bull***t".
League leaders Leinster led 14-0 at the break but the visitors fought back to get within five points with two minutes to play.
Connacht wing Shane Jennings and Leinster full-back Jimmy O’Brien were both yellow-carded, while Hansen felt that the officials treated two similar incidents differently.
A high tackle by Josh Ioane on Gus McCarthy was reviewed numerous times by the TMO and resulted in a penalty only, while Bundee Aki appeared to take a shoulder to the head as Jordie Barrett cleared a ruck.
In an extraordinary post-match press conference, Hansen admitted that the side were frustrated and directed his ire at the officials, all from the IRFU.
Chris Busby was the referee. Peter Martin and Stuart Gaffikin were the assistants, while Mark Patton was the television match official.
"To be honest, it felt like we were getting reffed out of the game for the first 40 minutes, pretty much," said the Ireland winger, whose side conceded 15 penalties to Leinster's 16.
"Then, we were able to do our thing. We were able to show the exciting rugby that we play.
"We're not a team for excuses, but that's what I feel. I feel like the first bit we were getting pressured from what seemed like 16 men against us instead of 15, to be honest to you."
Asked if he agreed with Hansen assessment, Wilkins replied that "we’ll feed it back through the referees’ boss" before Hansen interrupted and asked to expand on his grievances.
"Like, I feel like we get this every week. We never get any calls, ever. I’ve been feeling this for years now.
"You can’t possibly tell me yourselves sitting there, like checking the Gus McCarthy one, how much? How much did they check that, 10, 11 times?
"Bundee gets a direct hit to the head, it’s quite obvious, no call, doesn’t care.
"It’s like we get that every time so you can hear the frustration in my voice 'cos it’s starting to get to the point where, honestly, it’s bull***t and it’s starting to get really frustrating for us ‘cos people will say we are an inconsistent team but Jesus Christ, when you are getting some of the calls we’re getting like, of course, you are going to be.
"I’m not making excuses by any means but like, when you just get it week after week, I feel it's got to be spoken about because it’s just getting to the point where it’s starting to really piss us off because we just feel we’re getting played out of games and we never ever get any calls."
On another incident, which led to out-half Josh Ioane going off permanently for a head injury assessment, Hansen said: "Then Josh goes off with a direct hit to the head again and I was talking to the touchie and he goes, ‘oh, when you tackle you lead with the head’.
"That doesn’t make any sense, that’s a penalty regardless.
"He’s actually said he’s hit him in the head with his head but because he was bent over it was fine or something like that, when he’s smacked him in the back of the head with his head and no call at all, not even a look back.
"We get that every time so...[Pete] will be in a tough situation if he said it. It just needs to be said. It’s really f*****g starting to get to us as a team."
Wilkins (above) added: "We all appreciate Mack’s honesty. It’s a tough one regarding referees’ performances. More often than not you are talking about TMO performances, who you never really get to meet in person.
"If you feed back to the referees your dissatisfaction, they either agree with you on some of your feedback, which doesn’t make you feel any better because then you know that you were right or they disagree with you which doesn’t make you feel any better because you can’t believe that you are not seeing eye to eye on it.
"All we can control is that we keep feeding it back and after that we see how we go.
"For us, particularly in defeat we put our energy into what we can control and what we can do better and you just hope that everyone else involved in the game is doing similar."
Leinster boss Leo Cullen (above), whose side face Munster on Friday, was also asked about the Barrett-Aki incident.
"I saw the cleanout but I didn't think there was that much in it, to be honest," he said.
"And that's the game.
"There's a cleanout and the windows where you can enter are so small.
"I saw the incident and I didn't think there was that much in it."
