Irish rugby chiefs oppose 20-minute red card proposal 

World Rugby will trial the idea in next month’s Autumn Nations Series of Test matches.

DISMISSED: The IRFU does not want the 20-minute sanction introduced on a permanent basis, they say. Pic: INPHO/Nick Elliott

Irish Rugby chiefs have followed French calls not to support the permanent adoption of a 20-minute red card.

World Rugby will operate the 20-minute red card variation as a closed law trial in next month’s Autumn Nations Series of Test matches in the Northern Hemisphere, when Ireland will play New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia at Aviva Stadium.

Yet the IRFU does not want the 20-minute sanction introduced on a permanent basis.

“The IRFU does not support the permanent adoption of a 20-minute Red Card,” said a statement issued by the governing body for Irish rugby.

“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 added that it welcomed the variation to World Rugby’s closed law trial, whereby match officials will retain the ability to award a permanent red card for acts of foul play which are deemed deliberate and dangerous, although the trial will also give referees 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 the recent Rugby Championship, won by South Africa ahead of Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

The IRFU’s stance follows on from a similar statement issued earlier this week in a joint communique from the French Rugby Federation and the LNR, the body operating the Top 14 and ProD2 competitions.

Reacting to the French concerns, several players were asked for their opinions at Tuesday’s EPCR media day in Cardiff, with Ulster and Ireland wing Jacob Stockdale saying he was in favour of the law trial.

“From a playing point of view it’s a difficult one because refereeing of high shots and dangerous tackles and all that sort of stuff has become a lot more stricter and stringent in the last few years, rightfully so, in my opinion. You have to look after lads’ heads,” Stockdale said.

“The down side of that is that with stricter, tougher laws and tougher refereeing you’re more likely to get more red cards, and a lot of the time a red card can ruin a game. So I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.

“The idea of punishing a team with more than a yellow card but not quite as strict as a full red card has maybe not necessarily a bad thing. You just have to wait and see how it all unfolds and how it affects the game before you’re able to make a proper decision on it.”