Lord of the Dance
World Rugby set to trial 20-minute red card to improve high tackling issues
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World Rugby set to trial 20-minute red card to improve high tackling issues

WORLD RUGBY will consider introducing the 20-minute red card as a global law trial despite concerns that it could diminish the deterrent effect.

The law set to be tested means a player sent off and can be replaced by a player on the bench after 20 minutes

One of the more recent highest profile incidents happened in the England and Ireland game in the Six Nations last month.

Charlie Ewels, the English lock was given his marching orders after 82 seconds for tackling Ireland's lock James Ryan in the Six Nations. 

A lot of fans and pundits feel the contest ended within minutes of the game starting. 

World Rugby's goal is to lower high tackles and this has been trialed in Super Rugby



Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said the matter has been spoken about 

“That’s been discussed before and will be discussed again,” said Gilpin

“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.

"That's been discussed before and will be discussed again," World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin told the Daily Telegraph.

"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.

Users on the popular social media site Twitter have been given their thoughts on the innovative move. 

One user said: "The 20 minute RED card should NOT be a road we go down.

"From now until the end of days there will always be red cards in rugby because of the dynamics of the game. 

"A team could receive 4 red cards and still WIN the game. Imagine that." 

Another said: A 20-minute red card is utter garbage. Like getting parole for your team before you have even been sent down.

According to Gilpin more data will need to be collected before the law becomes the norm in world rugby

"We need to see more of the data to see whether that strikes the balance between safety and spectacle better", added the rugby boss. 

"There is more work to do to analyze that and the concern is, if a team goes back to 15 players, is that enough of a deterrent to drive that behavioral change.

"We would like to see it trialed more widely before drawing any conclusions".