Red card subs in cup

A CONTROVERSIAL trial allowing teams to replace players who have been sent off 20 minutes after the initial offence will take place during rugby’s inaugural Rainbow Cup. Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors are taking part in the tournament, which is due to include all Pro14 teams plus

four South African franchises, with three different rule variations to be tested. As well as the right to replace a red-carded player, teams will also be given a ‘captain’s challenge’, allowing them to review try-scoring and foul play up to the 75th minute. In the last five minutes, the skipper can challenge any decision, provided he has not lost a previous challenge.

The third experimental law means that when attacking players are held up over the try-line the defending team will drop out from their goal-line. The rule will also apply to in-goal knock-ons and when defenders ground the ball from attacking kicks. Under current laws, attacking teams are awarded a scrum five metres from the opposition try-line when they are held up over the line.

The rule changes are also being trialled in both New Zealand and Australia, with Alan Gilpin, CEO of World Rugby, enthused by the Pro14 decision to follow suit.

‘We applaud Pro14 Rugby and the clubs for their enthusiasm to trial a number of law variations in the Rainbow Cup,’ he said.

‘The addition of another top competition to the World Rugby law trials programme will provide invaluable data and feedback to determine future advances to game spectacle and player welfare.’

However, the trial is not without its critics, with ex-Scotland and Lions prop Peter Wright questioning the fairness of the red-card substitute.

‘I know people are saying red cards, especially early ones, can spoil the game but that should not be the consideration,’ said Wright. ‘It is the player that gets sent off that spoils the game, not the rules.

‘The officials will have to treat every red card the same, whether it was a soft one or a stick-on and let the player ordered off be replaced by someone else after just 20 minutes so it goes back to 15 v 15.

‘For instance, Finn Russell’s red card against France which, to me, was given for him just fending off an opponent, was an ideal situation to be a red card that deserved just a 20-minute ban as it was soft.

‘Yet there are others when a player kicks another in the face at the ruck or late, dangerous tackles that could end the career of the opposing player. It doesn’t seem fair that both red cards would be treated the same in this trial, with a different player being allowed back on to replace the one sent off.’

Wright also called into question what message it sent to players when it came to putting illegal tackles in on the opposition.

‘I would like to think players won’t target others but to take out an important player on the opposition side and know someone will replace you 20 minutes later if you are sent off worries me.’

GLASGOW WARRIORS star Huw Jones may have played his last game for the club after breaking a bone in his foot in the 26-21 European Challenge Cup defeat to Montpellier. He picked up the injury after just 24 minutes and had to be replaced by Niko Matawalu. Jones, who is leaving in the summer to join Bayonne, faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing an operation on his injured foot yesterday.