Referees' boss Tappe Henning hopes 'game will benefit' from Mack Hansen incident

The exact nature of Mack Hansen's re-education training is still under discussion but the URC is hopeful it will allow for the Ireland wing to present a player’s perspective.

In addition to a three-match ban for his outburst following Connacht's BKT URC defeat to Leinster in December, an independent disciplinary panel ordered the 26-year-old to undertake "an appropriate course (related to match officiating)... with the learnings to be disseminated with his team-mates at Connacht."

Connacht boss Pete Wilkins’ confirmed to RTÉ Sport on Monday that those details were still being worked on.

This morning the United Rugby Championship hosted a virtual round-table meeting with referees’ boss Tappe Henning, who was reluctant to go into details about the on-going process.

However, they are hopeful that Hansen's presentation will include a players' perspective on officiating.

"We want something positive to come out of this, all of us in this process," said the South African.

"Our focus and our best efforts will be that the game will benefit from an incident that was so sorry to happen.

"That's all I can say about that now, that we'll try to turn it into a positive in the relationships between match officials and teams and players."

Henning also clarified that because Hansen's charge was under misconduct laws and not foul play, it was not dealt with immediately and the Canberra native, currently with Ireland in Portugal in their pre-Six Nations training camp, was able to play for Connacht against Ulster.

Referee Chris Busby, who was in charge of the Leinster v Connacht game, remains available for selection for the rest of the season, the URC confirmed. He will be on duty as an assistant referee for the Leinster v Stormers tie on Saturday