As expected, on Thursday, the World Rugby Council ratified, without much fuss, three new amendments to the rules of the game. Voters approved the end of the “Dupont law” (offside on foot-play ping-pong). ), the end also of the crocodile grip (croc roll) which made it possible to clear a player from a ruck by grabbing him by the torso to make him rotate as well as the impossibility of now being able to choose the scrum option after a free kick .
This last decision, which is intended to speed up a game that is slowed down by repeated scrums, does not win the support of the FFR which considers that the scrum as such should not become the scapegoat in this debate. These three provisions will come into force on July 1.
A technical or careless fault will be accompanied by a 2-week suspension, a flagrant fault will be equivalent to 4 weeks
More divisive, the discussion around the 20-minute red card (the excluded player is always permanently excluded but he can be replaced after twenty minutes) was lively. Upon arrival, the Council validated, by majority, an experimental phase, starting this summer, in competitions placed under the aegis of World Rugby, namely the U20 World Cup in South Africa (June 29 -July 19), the Pacific Nations Cup (in which Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, United States, Canada and Japan participate from August 23 to September 21), the U20 Trophy in Scotland (July 2-17) or the WXV (women’s competition that France will compete in Canada from September 27).
These tests will go hand in hand with the application of a new penalty scale for the player punished with a red card: a technical or reckless fault will be accompanied by 2 weeks of suspension, a flagrant fault (shoulder tackle, without enclosing, dangerous clearing, etc.) will be equivalent to 4 weeks. For acts of brutality or insults, the panel of commissioners will study it on a case-by-case basis.
The results of these summer tests will be reviewed by the World Rugby Council in November
As for whether the slimmed-down red could be experimented with during the summer tour, that’s still a question mark. Each Federation is free to test or not a system that World Rugby cannot impose in this context. We can imagine, or at least hope, that the Six Nations and the Sanzaar (Southern Federations) will try to standardize their voices. The results of these summer tests will be reviewed by the Council in November, which can vote on a global experiment.
Like the light red card, other avenues of reform will be tested this summer: a 30-second clock to speed up scrums and throw-ins, the open possibility of making a “mark” in its 22 on referrals, ‘obligation to play the ball from the first stop of a maul (and no longer the second) or the fact of letting the game continue if a throw into touch is not straight, as long as the opposing team does not did not argue in the air. Enough to fuel many debates.
