Currently in the Six Nations numerous new rules are being trialled to see whether they would be implemented into the game further down.
Continuing from the Autumn Nations Series, refereeing officials will announce their decisions and provide explanations to the stadium.
Jack Parker, Birkenhead forwards coach, said: “I think it’s brilliant, it does add to the drama of it.
“But at the same time, it depends on the crowd, some crowds have got a bit football esc- you see it sometimes when teams go into the southern hemisphere and the kicker gets booed.”
A new 20-min red card has been introduced meaning if a player commits a red card offence their team will be a player down for 20 minutes, after which they can sub a different player on.
The player sent off will not be allowed to return to the pitch.
This rule has already caused controversy in the Wales v Ireland Six Nations match. Ireland’s Gary Ringrose was shown a red card for head-on-head contact.
After 20 minutes Ireland subbed on Bundee Aki who made a huge impact on the game.
Jack Parker said: “I don’t like it to be honest- I think that’s because it’s a contact sport there’s a lot of jeopardy, sometimes mistakes happen, and it just seems that we are going towards a point where we’re rewarding when those aren’t mistakes.
“When you take that kind of extended period out and bring it to 20 mins you reward more bad behaviour than you fix mistakes.”
From a player perspective, Birkenhead scrum-half, Sean Lynch expressed concerns that it may lead to an increase in dangerous play.
He said: “Probably not the best, if you’ve done something that warrants a red card then you should be sent off- it’ll only lead to more dangerous play.
Both showed their concern on the impact this rule could have if it was implemented in their level.
Parker said: “disaster- we don’t have any assistant referees, and I think referees have a tough enough job keeping two squads of 18, two coaching staffs and all supporters all onside and keep the game flowing.
“I think if you add complexities like that into the game it’s just going to make the referees job 10x harder.
“We’re going to have consistency problems right off the bat so I wouldn’t look forward to it if they brought it into here.”
Lynch said: “We’re already limited to three subs in our game, if you do something to warrant a red card you should probably be down for the rest of the game.
“You shouldn’t be given the benefit after of being able to add a player back on if you’re already limited to three subs.”
Liverpool rugby referee society chair, Dave Edmunds, believes the new rule won’t have a negative impact on rugby as red cards are normally given due to mistakes made on instinct rather than being deliberate.
He said: “Rugby’s not that sort of game.
“I don’t think it will cause players to become more reckless or deliberately get a red card.
“If you see red cards offences normally it happened on instinct rather than being deliberate.”
He believes that if the rules help the game going forward and adds with the popularity of rugby union in the North of England then it’s worth making the changes.
He said: “It’s a difficult time for clubs at the moment to keep players and keep going.
“If it keeps more people on the pitch and more people playing rugby then it’s worth it.”
A new rule ‘protecting the number 9’ is also being trialled. The new rule changes the offside line for the opposition team as the centre line of the tunnel in a scrum. Therefore, the scrum-half cannot be played while the ball is near a tackle, ruck or maul.
Sean Lynch said: “As a scrum half I love it- the more protection the better.
“It’ll speed up play, for some teams it might be beneficial for some it might not be, it’ll be on a team-to-team basis.
“Hard to say the more protection the better but at the end of the day you are playing rugby, and you can’t have one player getting more protection than everyone else.
“As long as it’s an even playing field for both teams and it’ll benefit everyone.”
It is yet to be decided whether the rules being trialled at the Six Nations will be implemented permanently.
Featured image under Alamy licence
