Super Rugby AU announces law variations

Super Rugby AU is under a month away and with World Rugby offering up some trial laws to tournaments, the ARU has announced what variations they will be including in the Super Rugby AU tournament.

The innovative changes include goal line drop-outs to reward attacking kicks, replacements for red-carded players after 20 minutes, rewards for 50/22 and 22/50 kicks, and ‘Super Time’ for matches that end in a draw after the 80 minutes.

Match officials will also be briefed to police the breakdown, limit the number of scrum resets, and get tough on cynical and repeated infringements to speed up play.

Rugby Australia Director of Rugby, Scott Johnson said: “We assembled some of the best minds in the game from a range of different roles to look at adding some new attacking dimensions to the game while at the same time sticking to some key principles to preserve the fabric of the sport.

“The level of engagement was outstanding from the players and coaches involved in the process and we ended up with a set of law variations that were unanimously agreed upon by all 24 people involved.

“A couple of the variations including the 50/22 and 22/50’s have been trialled previously in the NRC and we have added some principles around line drop-outs to encourage more short attacking kick options near the line, and a Super Time tiebreaker in the event of a draw."