Rugby fans take note: There are new laws at play from this weekend

Rugby fans should take note that several law trials will take place during this year’s Rugby Championship which gets underway this weekend.

The trials will be similar to those trialed in Super Rugby in Australia and New Zealand.

The following law trials will be at play from this weekend and through the Rugby Championship:

50:22

If the team in possession kicks the ball from their own half indirectly into touch inside their opponents’ 22, they will throw into the resultant lineout. The ball cannot be passed or carried back into the defensive half for the 50:22 to be played. The phase must originate in the defensive half.

Goal line drop-out

If the ball is held up in-goal, there is a knock-on from an attacking player in in-goal, or an attacking kick is grounded by the defenders in their own in-goal, then play restarts with a goal line drop-out anywhere along the goal line.

Flying wedge

To sanction the three-person pre-bound mini-scrum by redefining the flying wedge.

One-man latch

To recognise the potential for one-player pre-latching prior to contact, but this player must observe all of the requirements for a first arriving player, particularly the need to stay on their feet.

Cleanout and safety of the tackler

To introduce a sanction for clean outs which target or drop weight onto the lower limbs.

An in-depth explanation is available at https://www.world.rugby/the-game/laws/global-law-trials which includes details of the trial, the intention, links to trial law and video examples.

Red card law trial

World Rugby has also approved the use of the 20-minute red card law trial. The following explains how the law works:

If a player is red-carded, they may be replaced after 20 minutes by another player. The 20 minutes from when a player is red-carded to when they may be replaced is measured as “game time”. This follows the same measurement of time already in place for a yellow-carded player in the sin-bin (Meaning the sin-bin clock is stopped when the game clock is stopped).

A players received a yellow card and is sin-binned for 10 minutes. If the same player returns to the field and subsequently receives a second yellow card, which equates to an automatic red card, after a further 20 minutes the red-carded player can be replaced.

A player who has been tactically replaced is able to return to the field to replace a red-carded player.

A red-carded player cannot return under any circumstance.