URC ref tsar warns of 'zero-tolerance' if creeping player problem doesn't improve

United Rugby Championship referees’ boss Tappe Henning has warned players to expect a crackdown on backchat to referees in the play-offs that kick off tonight when Glasgow Warriors entertain Connacht at Scotstoun.

Henning says it was one of the items on the agenda when the officials selected by the URC for their play-offs met earlier this week, and he has warned players not to cross the line.

Otherwise, he says that referees will adopt zero tolerance as a last resort to stamp out excessive shouting for decisions, which has become more prevalent in games in the last five years.

“It is coming to the extent that it’s excessive. We do not want to go to zero tolerance, but if it does not improve from a match official’s end, we will get to a point where we will apply a zero-tolerance philosophy to that.

“At the moment, the referee will try to manage it early in the game and request the captain to take control of his player and tell his player we do not need that advice in shouting. We want to protect the relationship between the captain and the referee.

“And then that needs to be in a courteous manner as well, and not excessively during a game, and the referees are required to use good judgement when they believe it is excessive, and then draw the line in the sand to weed it out.

“We want to make sure that our play-offs remain a spectacle, and these are our top referees in our competition. They’ve been around for quite a while. All of them have got a lot of experience in the game, and they will deal with it appropriately.

“We do not want to overreact. We understand players’ disappointment and verbalise it when they disagree with the decision. But if it gets to a point where the referee draws the line in the sand, we would expect players to then respect that.

“And we’ve seen in games where even captains have been penalised for shouting at the referee and screaming at the referee for a decision,” said Henning.