Refs boss Tappe Henning scores officials 8/10 over first two URC rounds

Tappe Henning, the URC head of match officials, is chuffed with the referees' performances over the opening two rounds of the 2022/23 season.

The former South African Test referee has given the referees an 8/10 rating, and he's confident the quality of their performances will improve as the season progresses.

Henning announced three-steps URC bosses will undertake to improve the standard of refereeing: the formation of an independent referee selection panel; the appointment of a set-piece analyst to assist referees; and a referee and TMO pairing system.

"We've changed the structure in how we review our match officials' performances. In the past it was done by the five high performance referee managers from each union and we reviewed the performances and wrote assessments," Henning said in a statement. 

"We have now switched to four independent selectors (not directly involved in the unions) as a selectors' panel who do those reviews, with me as the chairman of that group."

The independent selection panel will feature former Welsh Test referee Nigel Owens, South Africa's Stuart Berry, Ireland's George Clancy and Scotland's Neil Paterson.

"We've aligned that to the model that World Rugby is using. The idea is to bring a fresh pair of eyes and thinking into the system. The aim within the next three to five years is to develop a group of elite match officials selected on merit."

Henning added that it was important to improve the referees' knowledge all the time. 

"[This] will lead to stronger decision making and more accuracy in decision making. We have appointed ex-Scotland international Steve Scott as our set-piece analyst who will focus specifically on the performance of referees at each and every scrum and lineout and maul. 

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