Will rugby modernisation plans go through or will they get the red card?

New Zealand chief executive Mark Robinson wants rugby union to reinvent itself with the game’s future up for grabs

OFF: Wayne Barnes shows a red card. A new trial will mean some players who are sent off can be replaced after 20 minutes

Modern rugby union turned 30 last month. It was in the autumn of 1994 that Louis Luyt, president of the South African Rugby Union, announced that the game would turn professional after his country had hosted the World Cup the following year. Luyt was the first significant figure in the sport to say out loud what everyone else was only talking about in whispers. 

He was right. It took another 12 months, the actual anniversary of the International Rugby Board meeting at which the decision to go pro was made falls next August, but once Luyt had opened the box there was no closing it again.