Chris Busby. A good man, and now a significant loss to elite rugby refereeing.
The first thing to say is that I have not spoken to Busby following his decision to resign. These are my words, my opinion, and it shouldn’t be construed that I am writing on his behalf. I’m not.
It’s uncertain as to what the main reason is, but I’d be surprised if the recent Mack Hansen issue didn’t play a large part.
That issue has been botched from first to last. The player publicly castigated the performance of Busby and implied that Connacht were playing against 16 men. That was a step too far, coming alarmingly close to an accusation of cheating. For good measure, Hansen included other referees in his expletively-framed denunciation.
A…