Radical new law trials to make draws a thing of the past

If a player is red-carded, they may be replaced after 20 minutes by another player. The 20mins 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 (mean sin bin clock is stopped when the game clock is stopped).

Teams will have up to two periods of five minutes each to score the winning point, meaning a drop goal, penalty, or try can secure the spoils.If no points are scored during extra time, the match will be declared a draw.

Last year’s Super Rugby AU competition featured only a golden try scenario, but New Zealand Rugby convinced Rugby Australia to switch to golden point.

The law trial is driven by the collective commitment to ensure player welfare is paramount across the sport. Scrum stability and in particular the hooker ‘brake foot’ is the focus of the trial. Both hookers will be required to ensure one foot, the ‘brake foot’, is extended towards the opposition during the crouch and bind phases of the engagement sequence, with a resulting free kick if the “brake foot” is not applied

Having consulted with the International Players Association, leading players, including international hookers, scrum coaches and match officials, World Rugby will work with Six Nations Rugby to introduce this trial for its first execution in a competitive match environment.

Both Six Nations Rugby and World Rugby are looking to understand whether this minor adjustment can have a positive impact on the number of scrum collapses and resets and potentially welfare outcomes, by aiding hooker stability.