diff --git a/app/controllers/references_controller.rb b/app/controllers/references_controller.rb
index cffd59bb53..7f42c0e579 100644
--- a/app/controllers/references_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/references_controller.rb
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 class ReferencesController < ApplicationController
   include CurrentProject
+  CACHE_TTL = Integer(ENV['REFERENCES_CACHE_TTL'].presence || 10.minutes.to_s)
 
   before_action :authorize_project_deployer!
 
   def index
-    @references = ReferencesService.new(@project).find_git_references
-    render json: @references, root: false
+    references = Rails.cache.fetch("#{@project.id}_git_references", expires_in: CACHE_TTL) do
+      repository = @project.repository
+      (repository.branches + repository.tags).sort_by! { |ref| [-ref.length, ref] }.reverse!
+    end
+    render json: references, root: false
   end
 end
diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 81c4933ed4..63d538e7f3 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -116,7 +116,6 @@ class Application < Rails::Application
     config.samson.github.web_url = deprecated_url.call("GITHUB_WEB_URL") || 'https://github.com'
     config.samson.github.api_url = deprecated_url.call("GITHUB_API_URL") || 'https://api.github.com'
     config.samson.github.status_url = deprecated_url.call("GITHUB_STATUS_URL") || 'https://status.github.com'
-    config.samson.references_cache_ttl = ENV['REFERENCES_CACHE_TTL'].presence || 10.minutes
 
     # Configuration for LDAP
     config.samson.ldap = ActiveSupport::OrderedOptions.new
diff --git a/lib/references_service.rb b/lib/references_service.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 65868f9e8f..0000000000
--- a/lib/references_service.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-# frozen_string_literal: true
-class ReferencesService
-  cattr_accessor(:lock_timeout, instance_writer: false) { 2.minutes }
-
-  attr_reader :project
-
-  def initialize(project)
-    @project = project
-  end
-
-  def find_git_references
-    Rails.cache.fetch(cache_key, expires_in: references_ttl) { references_from_cached_repo } || []
-  end
-
-  private
-
-  def repository
-    project.repository
-  end
-
-  def cache_key
-    "#{project.id}_git_references"
-  end
-
-  def references_ttl
-    Rails.application.config.samson.references_cache_ttl.to_i
-  end
-
-  def references_from_cached_repo
-    (repository.branches + repository.tags).sort_by { |ref| [-ref.length, ref] }.reverse
-  end
-end
diff --git a/test/controllers/references_controller_test.rb b/test/controllers/references_controller_test.rb
index 97c8418933..a39a2a3ea0 100644
--- a/test/controllers/references_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/controllers/references_controller_test.rb
@@ -4,22 +4,31 @@
 SingleCov.covered!
 
 describe ReferencesController do
-  before do
-    reference_service = ReferencesService.new(projects(:test))
-    reference_service.stubs(:find_git_references).returns(%w[master test_user/test_branch])
-    ReferencesService.stubs(:new).returns(reference_service)
-  end
-
   as_a_viewer do
     unauthorized :get, :index, project_id: :foo
   end
 
   as_a_project_deployer do
     describe '#index' do
-      it 'returns the git references for the project test' do
-        get :index, params: {project_id: projects(:test).to_param, format: :json}
+      let(:project) { projects(:test) }
+
+      include GitRepoTestHelper
+      with_project_on_remote_repo
+
+      it 'shows git references for the project' do
+        get :index, params: {project_id: project.to_param, format: :json}
         response.content_type.must_equal 'application/json'
-        assigns(:references).must_equal %w[master test_user/test_branch]
+        JSON.parse(response.body).must_equal ["master"]
+      end
+
+      it 'sorts tags/branches by length and shows new tags first' do
+        execute_on_remote_repo "git tag v2"
+        execute_on_remote_repo "git tag v1"
+        execute_on_remote_repo "git checkout -b foo"
+        execute_on_remote_repo "git checkout -b baz"
+        execute_on_remote_repo "git checkout -b bar"
+        get :index, params: {project_id: project.to_param, format: :json}
+        JSON.parse(response.body).must_equal ["v2", "v1", "foo", "baz", "bar", "master"]
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/lib/references_service_test.rb b/test/lib/references_service_test.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 3fdb92942f..0000000000
--- a/test/lib/references_service_test.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-# frozen_string_literal: true
-require_relative '../test_helper'
-
-SingleCov.covered!
-
-describe ReferencesService do
-  include GitRepoTestHelper
-
-  let!(:repository_url) do
-    create_repo_with_tags
-    execute_on_remote_repo("git checkout -b test_user/test_branch")
-  end
-
-  let!(:project) { Project.create!(name: 'test_project', repository_url: repo_temp_dir) }
-
-  after do
-    FileUtils.rm_rf(repo_temp_dir)
-    project.repository.clean!
-  end
-
-  it 'returns a sorted set of tags and branches' do
-    ReferencesService.new(project).find_git_references.must_equal %w[v1 master test_user/test_branch]
-  end
-
-  it 'returns a sorted set of tags and branches from cached repo' do
-    ReferencesService.new(project).send(:references_from_cached_repo).must_equal %w[v1 master test_user/test_branch]
-  end
-
-  it 'the ttl threshold should always return an integer' do
-    Rails.application.config.samson.stubs(:references_cache_ttl).returns('10')
-    references_service = ReferencesService.new(project)
-    references_service.send(:references_ttl).must_equal 10
-  end
-end