Any regular-season matches tied at full time will be decided by a golden point, as part of the new law variations in the 2022 season of Super Rugby.

Rugby Australia, New Zealand Rugby and Sanzaar on Wednesday confirmed the law variations approved by World Rugby that will be applied for the upcoming Super Rugby Pacific season.
 
Super Rugby Pacific 2022 will have two law variations included for the season: replacements for red-carded players after 20 minutes; and the introduction of golden point extra time for regular-season matches.

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.

Super Rugby Pacific will also include the red-card replacement rule.

If a player is red-carded he 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’.

Goalline dropouts for a ball grounded in goal and the 50/22 kicking variation will be applied to Super Rugby Pacific.

The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific Season will officially kick off Friday, 18 February, when the Waratahs take on competition newcomers the Fijian Drua at CommBank Stadium in Sydney.

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