Reminder: Red-card replacements among Rugby Champs law trials

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The 50:22 kicking adaptation and 20-minute red card are among the law trials that will be implemented during the 2021 Rugby Championship.

The World Rugby executive committee agreed to approve the following global law trials for implementation for competitions commencing on or after 1 August:

  • 50:22: If the team in possession kicks the ball from their 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 inside the defensive half.
  • Goalline drop-out: If the ball is held up in-goal, there is a knock-on from an attacking player in-goal or a kick is grounded by the defenders in their in-goal, then play restarts with a goalline drop-out anywhere along the goalline.
  • 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 the requirements for a first arriving player, particularly the need to stay on their feet.
  • Cleanout and safety of the jackler: To introduce a sanction for cleanouts which target or drop weight on to the lower limbs.

World Rugby has also approved a Sanzaar request to use the 20-minute red-card law trial in the 2021 Rugby Championship (and Bledisloe Cup matches).

  • 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 player receives a yellow card and is sin-binned for 10 minutes. If the same player then returns to the field after serving their 10-minute suspension and subsequently receives a second yellow card, which equates to an automatic red card. After a further 20 mins 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.
  • Any red-carded player cannot return under any circumstance.

The Springboks get their 2021 Rugby Championship campaign under way against Argentina in Gqeberha on Saturday.

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Dylan Jack