This yr’s Six Nations will function 20-minute pink playing cards for the primary time after the regulation variation was trialled through the November internationals, organisers stated.
Underneath the change, some pink card offences will see a participant despatched to the sin bin for 20 minutes with the offender then ready to get replaced on the sphere by a teammate off the bench when the punishment has been accomplished.
Referees can nonetheless hand out everlasting pink playing cards to scale back a staff by a participant for the rest of the competition for offences deemed deliberate and with a excessive degree of hazard.
First launched in southern hemisphere competitors, 20-minute pink playing cards will function within the males’s, ladies’s and Underneath-20 Six Nations.
Final October, the proposed trial of the 20-minute pink card in elite ranges of the sport drew criticism from French rugby chiefs saying it might encourage extra aggressive play and expose gamers to higher threat of harm.
Chief of rugby at Six Nations Julie Paterson stated the regulation change and different trials have been amongst measures geared toward clarifying areas of the sport for gamers and coaches in addition to enhancing the expertise for followers.
“The Autumn Nations Sequence was a terrific case examine for the progress that’s being made, and it’s going to be extremely thrilling to see this proceed and evolve by way of the Six Nations Championships,” Paterson stated in a press launch on Wednesday.
Amongst different measures, referees will probably be going “on mic” to elucidate key selections and ‘contact finder’ know-how will probably be launched to help the selections of the match official, organisers stated.
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– Six Nations historical past, winners record, extra
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