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Four new rugby laws to be trialled worldwide

mike henson - bbc sport rugby union news reporter
·2-min read
New Zealand and Ireland prepare to pack down
Teams now have 30 seconds to form up a scrum, with match officials in charge of enforcing the limit [Getty Images]

Four new laws aimed at making rugby union faster and more entertaining will be tested around the world from the start of next year.

Kickers will only be allowed to take 60 seconds over a conversion, in line with the one-minute 'shot clock' that already exists for penalties.

Elsewhere crooked line-out throws will not be penalised if the opposition does not contest the ball and, like scrums, match officials will form up the set-piece within 30 seconds.

Scrum-halves will also be given more protection around scrums, rucks and mauls to ensure a supply of cleaner, quicker ball and faster phases of play.

The laws have been already been tested in a series of World Rugby events, including the summer's U20 World Championship and the Pacific Nations Cup.

A decision on 20-minute red cards - where an offending player can be replaced with another off the bench after 20 minutes - has been delayed until after the autumn.

A version of the system is being trialled in the current set of autumn internationals after it was used in this year's Rugby Championship involving South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia.

France and Ireland expressed concern about its possible permanent adoption before the autumn matches started.

Semi Radradra is shown yellow
Fiji's Semi Radradra (right) was initially shown yellow for a high hit in his team's win over Wales, but the sanction was upgraded to a 20-minute red when reviewed by the video official [Getty Images]

Ireland want officials to be able to permanently reduce a team to 14 players in the case of deliberate foul play - an option that was retained in this year's autumn fixtures - while France's federation, league and players' union released a stronger statement calling 20-minute red cards an "unacceptable step backwards" for player safety.

World Rugby was due to vote on the innovation in a meeting in Dublin this week but has postponed a decision to allow "further feedback and full data analysis to be considered" from the autumn's matches.

Teams being required to play the ball after a driven maul has stopped once, rather than twice, and the ability to mark a ball inside the 22m from a restart have not been taken forward to a full global trial.

World Rugby has focused on speeding up the game and reducing long passages of kicking after research into fans' experiences at last year's World Cup in France.