Referees will retain the ability to send players off permanently for acts of serious foul play in November after the law trials for the upcoming window were amended.
It had been planned that the 20-minute red card would be in place for the Autumn Nations Series as it had in The Rugby Championship, which is run by the Six Nations, but the concept has been heavily criticised in Europe with the French federation issuing a strong statement against it last week.
Ahead of the November series that sees Ireland play New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia, Six Nations has issued a clarification on the law trials that it hopes will appease critics.
When an act of foul play occurs, referees will have three sanctions to choose from. The sin-bin, a 20-minute red card that sees teams being able to replace the offending player, or a permanent red card.
Referees will be able to communicate with fans in the stadium through the public address system to explain their decisions.
The IRFU has welcomed the compromise in a statement, saying it “does not support the permanent adoption of a 20-minute red card”.
The 20-minute red card was the most controversial of the law trials coming into place in November which have been designed to speed up the game and make rugby a better spectacle.
The shot clock for conversions and penalties will now be set at 60 seconds, while there’ll be a scrum and lineout clock requiring the set-pieces to be set in 30 seconds.
The instrumented mouthguard will also be in place.
The IRFU welcomed the move to give referees options.
“The IRFU does not support the permanent adoption of a 20-minute Red Card,” the statement read.
“Player welfare and safety are paramount to the core values of the game and the option of a permanent red card for deliberate and intentional acts of foul play supports those values and protects the integrity of the game.
“The IRFU welcomes the variation to World Rugby’s closed law trial, which will be adopted in the upcoming Autumn Nations Series, whereby Match Officials will retain the ability to award a permanent red card for acts of foul play which are deemed deliberate and dangerous.
“Match officials will also have the option of a 20-Minute Red Card for technical acts of foul play deemed not to be deliberate or intentional.
“In these circumstances, the player will be removed from the field of play with the offending team able to replace that player after 20 minutes, with one of their available replacements, which was also trialled in this year’s Rugby Championship.”