Top rugby referee Craig Maxwell-Keys enjoyed a bit of extra downtime in the summer just gone.

The much later than usual start to the Premiership season due to the ongoing Rugby World Cup in Japan meant he was a able to chill for a few weeks longer than would normally be the case.

“Last season was wrapped up at the start of the June and we weren’t fitness tested until the beginning of August,” Maxwell-Keys said.

And it’s fair to say that the 29-year-old made the most of his extended break, whether spending time at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, holidaying in the Balkans or taking time out to go to a friend’s wedding in Toulouse.

“I’d been to Toulouse five times before for rugby but it was the first chance I had to really look around the city,” he said.

Mind you, that additional time off will soon be forgotten once the top-level domestic season gets under way with the opening round of Premiership matches taking place on the penultimate weekend of October.

That’s because, whichever way you look at it, the professional rugby season is going to be pretty much full on from then until the end of June with very few spare weekends.

“Once we start, it’s going to be very interesting,” admitted Maxwell-Keys. “It’s four weeks of Premiership, then two weeks of Europe, another round of Premiership and then two more weeks of Europe.

“Then we’re into the Christmas and new year programme. We’ll be able to get a break in February when the Premiership Cup games are played. It will be quite a challenge.”

But while there will undoubtedly be some tough moments for everyone concerned, don’t for one moment think that Maxwell-Keys is unhappy with his lot.

Far from it because Maxwell-Keys, who has been a very keen spectator as the World Cup unfolds in East Asia, can’t wait for the Premiership action to begin.

He kept his hand in by refereeing the odd game – he took charge of Lichfield versus Worcester Ladies as part of Worcester’s preparation for the Tyrrells Premiership – and admits that he enjoyed the opportunity.

“It was quite refreshing because there was no TMO,” said Maxwell-Keys, who lives in Cheltenham. “It was great to go back to grassroots, I had to referee the game on gut instinct.”

The use of TMOs in rugby has been established for a number of years now – and is welcomed by the vast majority of people within the game – but the recent introduction of VAR into football has highlighted the growing influence that video refs are having on key decisions in all sport these days.

It’s the same with cricket and tennis although the difference with those two sports is referrals are player-led and there are restrictions on how many reviews they can use.

That can bring with it further problems, of course, with England’s Ben Stokes seemingly erroneously given not out LBW in that never-to-forgotten innings at Headingley in the summer and Australia powerless to do anything about it because they had used up all their reviews.

That in turn threw up the question as to whether all decisions should be reviewed because surely the aim of the game, in this case cricket, is to get all decisions correct.

Maxwell-Keys is not so sure when it comes to cricket and tennis because as he quite rightly points out if there is no limit on player-led reviews, they could be made after every ball or rally.

For his part, he’s more than happy that in top-level rugby the reviews are referee-led. But how does he feel if an on-field decision that he has made is overturned by the TMO?

“It doesn’t knock my confidence because we are all part of a team,” he said. “First and foremost you make what you think is the correct decision but the TMO is a big part of the team and he is there to save us if we have got it wrong.

“The TMO is just doing his job. It’s impossible for referees to get every decision correct. You can’t see everything because there are 30 players and only three officials, and a lot of our work is about how we brief the TMOs when we need their support.”

The TMOs have already played a big part in the current World Cup, of course, and will continue to do so over the coming weeks.

Maxwell-Keys has yet to be involved in a World Cup but it’s something he wants very much going forward.

“One hundred per cent,” he said. “Four years down the line I want to be involved in France. It’s good to set goals, just like the players we want to be involved at the very top of the game and the World Cup is the pinnacle.”

Maxwell-Keys has already been appointed to take charge of one international – the game between Romania and the US last year – and is hopeful there are more opportunities around the corner.

“You never know what will happen after the World Cup,” he said. “I think the Six Nations is unlikely, I’m more looking forward to the summer and Autumn Tests next year, hopefully I will get a chance.”