The referees of the Six Nations Tournament will be able to use the reduced red card, which allows an excluded player to be replaced after twenty minutes to limit periods of numerical inferiority, the organizers announced on Wednesday.
“The 20-minute red card applies to technical fouls (not dangerous or deliberate, Editor’s note). The offending team can replace the excluded player, in order to punish the player and not the team.detailed Six Nations Rugby in a press release.
The definitive red card is still in force in the event of “deliberate and dangerous acts of foul play“, continues the press release. Just like the yellow card, which allows the referee to exclude a player for ten minutes for less serious faults, without him being replaced.
The reduced red card was tested during several international competitions, notably the November matches, despite opposition from certain countries including France. This rule is not applied in the Top 14 or in the European Cup.
-The international federation World Rugby, which was initially due to decide in November on a global experimentation of the system, had finally postponed this generalization to an indefinite date in order to have “more in-depth feedback“.
In addition to the 20-minute red card, other changes implemented during the November Tour of Southern Hemisphere Nations in Europe will be implemented during the Tournament, such as allowing referees to speak into the microphone to explain their decisions to spectators or the reduction of time to shoot a conversion and prepare for scrums and throw-ins.
The Six Nations Tournament begins on January 31 with the match between France and Wales.
