Rugby brief

New Red Card Law In Rugby Championship

London: The 20-minute red card and the 50-22 kick will be amongst the new law trials implemented ahead of the Rugby Championship.

According to a report on Rugby Australia’s official website, the decision to implement the red card changes comes after World Rugby approved a SANZAAR request after it was initially left out of the global trials.

It initially came into effect for the Bledisloe series, which kicked off last week, and will see a player replaced after 20 minutes by another player if they have been red-carded.

A player who been tactically replaced is able to return to the field to replace a red-carded player, however, teams must have had used their allocated replacements.

The decision comes after wide-ranging discussions surrounding a crack-down on high tackles and foul-play to ensure player safety.

Foul play in the spotlight

It was brought further into the spotlight when Marika Koroibete was redcarded for a high tackle, which was eventually overturned, forcing the Wallabies to play with 14 men for 75 minutes before pulling off a famous win over France in Brisbane last month.

The 50-22 kick has also been adopted into international games, which will see teams rewarded with the throw-in if they manage to find touch inside an opposition’s 22 from their own half.

This rule has been trialled across Super Rugby AU, with World Rugby set to make a decision on including it permanently into the rule book.

They have also opted to include the goal-line dropout, which sees the defending team kick the ball back to the opposition from their goal-line if a player is held up or the ball travels into the try area.

Along with this, there have been tweaks surrounding the ruck, which will see further emphasis placed on sanctioning cleanouts which target or drop their weight onto the lower limbs.