World Rugby considers trialling 20-minute red card rule

World Rugby is considering trialling the 20-minute red card rule across all major competitions. 

Currently part of Super Rugby Pacific, the rule means that, should a player be issued a red card, his/her team will only play with 14 players for a total of 20 minutes before a replacement may be deployed. The offending player is, however, not be permitted to return to the pitch. 

It has long been argued that the traditional red card rule is a blight on the game and ruins a contest for players and spectators alike and the recent incident in the Six Nations which saw Charlie Ewels given his marching orders after just 82 seconds, thus forcing England to play almost the entire match at a disadvantage.  

Speaking on the topic to the Daily Telegraph, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said: 

“That’s been discussed before and will be discussed again. 

“It would be great if more competitions, even in a closed trial, would use it because that would give us more of an overview of the effect it would have on the game. 

“We need to see more of the data to see whether that strikes the balance between safety and spectacle better. 

“There is more work to do to analyse that and the concern is, if a team goes back to 15 players, is that enough of a deterrent to drive that behavioural change? 

“We would like to see it trialled more widely before drawing any conclusions.”