Referees get tough on dissent

Referees have been instructed to crackdown on “football-style” backchat by players during the Natwest Six Nations Championship,

The Daily Telegraph understands. Referees have been encouraged to issue yellow cards or penalise the offending team and march them back 10 metres if officials feel that their decisions are not being respected. It is understood the directive was agreed at referee meetings on the past two Wednesdays, the first of which also involved the Six Nations head coaches in London, the second of which was held at Heathrow airport.

The issue of dissent has been an increasing concern for rugby’s power-brokers, after a number of high-profile incidents, such as Wales fly-half Dan Biggar’s reaction to South African referee Craig Joubert after he was shown a yellow card against Australia in Nov 2016.

Player backchat was top of the agenda at the latest meeting and there was a general consensus about the need to reaffirm the policy of only captains speaking to officials.

There will also be a crackdown on players gesturing for opponents to be issued with yellow cards in instances of foul play. Penalty decisions can also be reversed in such incidents.

Premiership Rugby issued a similar clampdown at the start of last season in a move to stamp out signs of football-style dissent towards officials creeping into the game to preserve the sport’s core value of respect.