SA's URC teams and 'Rassiegate victim' Nic Berry set for awkward reunion in future?

South African rugby and Nic Berry are potentially not done with each other.

Tappe Henning, the United Rugby Championship's (URC) head of match officials, has raised the intriguing possibility of local franchises being involved in matches that could feature the controversial - at least from a local perspective - Australian referee in future.

Berry was the main target of Rassie Erasmus' infamous 62-minute video from last year's British & Irish Lions tour, where the national director of rugby startlingly queried the majority of his decisions made in the Springboks' 22-17 loss in the first Test.

Following a protracted, messy and polarising saga, Erasmus was eventually handed a two-month ban by World Rugby from all rugby-related activities and still can't be part of any Bok match-day until 30 September.

READ | No hiring and firing, TMO confusion: 5 takeaways from URC ref boss Tappe Henning's big talk

There was much interest earlier this year when Berry was announced as the "on-loan" arbiter for the Connacht-Glasgow Warriors fixture in Galway, a match that saw the Irish hosts lose 42-20 as well as both teams struggle with the 38-year-old's interpretations at the breakdown.

Quizzed on whether that outing meant the URC is going to officially embark on "hiring" referees from outside the group of South African, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Italian ones, Henning was quite emphatic.

"Will we look at referees outside of our competition? No, we won't," he told a media roundtable on Wednesday.

"We have a strong group of referees. I'm very proud to say that all 12 of ours have international exposure. They might not be tier-one yet, but if they're at international level then they must surely be entrusted with handling play-off matches or games of