Steve Hansen resigns from Toyota and criticises refereeing standards

Toyota Verblitz head coach Steve Hansen announced his resignation and took aim at the standard of refereeing in Japan after his team’s loss to Honda Heat in the final round of the regular season.

World Cup-winning Hansen has stepped down with his co-coach and fellow ex-All Blacks boss Ian Foster taking over as head coach in Aichi from next season.

Former Wales coach Hansen, who won the World Cup in 2015 with New Zealand, was appointed as the team’s Director of Rugby in 2019 and has also overseen coaching duties since 2024.

The ex-Canterbury centre said that he always planned to step down after two years as head coach as he led the star-laden outfit to disappointing 10th and 9th place finishes.

"The quality of the refereeing was poor and I felt sorry for the players,” Hansen told Rugby Republic in his post-match press conference.

"In the first half plays that should never have been allowed were permitted. In the second half two tries were disallowed by the TMO and one of them was an unbelievable decision.

"I'm leaving the team so I'm going to say this now.”

Hansen, whose opposite number Kieran Crowley announced his departure from Honda, added: "I'm saying this because I care about Japanese rugby and the players. Honestly, one of the biggest disappointments of my time in Japan is that the quality of refereeing doesn't meet the standards of this tournament.”

Ex-Test referee Paul Honiss, who retired after an 11-year career in 2009, has worked for Japan Rugby Football Union as their High Performance Match Official Coach since 2021 and attends Japan Rugby League One (JRLO) games throughout the season.

Hansen, speaking after their win against Yokohama in March, said that he planned to speak to his countryman Honiss for clarification on certain rules after being disappointed with a number of decisions during their game at Nissan Stadium.

Players and foreign coaches in JRLO have regularly criticised the refereeing standards in Japan's premier club competition. Leading JRLO referee and ex-Toyota scrum-half Takehito Namekawa, 36, made a shock announcement in April that he will retire at the end of the season and could step in to a mentoring role for Japanese referees.