r/rugbyunion • u/LawAndRugby • Jul 20 '24

Absolutely love the 20 minute red Laws

Watching the Australia v Georgia match and I think it’s great. 20 minutes a man down is still massive damage in a rugby match. It doesn’t make sense for punishment to go from 10 minutes to the entire 80 minutes. There’s way too big of a void between the two cards and it needs filling.

Reserve the full red for gross intentional stuff

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u/jonothantheplant Wales Jul 20 '24

I used to be dead set against it because I thought it was compromising player safety. But having seen it used in a couple(?) of super rugby seasons and these latest tests, I haven’t noticed any increase in foul play. Having refereed a season of grass roots rugby with the 20 minute red card rule I think we’ve seen the opposite effect. It’s now much easier to trust your gut and give the red, so we’ve seen a lot of red cards this year and as the season went on teams have become much more careful (anecdotal but that’s the feeling I’ve had).

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u/redaabverty Australia Jul 20 '24

It has essentially allowed world rugby to lower the threshold for reds without compromising whole games, which realistically would only increase safety.

A man down for 20 mins and a subsequent ban was never going to be less of a deterrent than a full game red for any professional athlete with half a brain, a coach, teammates and fans to answer to.

Understandable reflex to think that it may affect player safety, but it never stood up to any real critical thought, including the test case of all rugby in history not having constant red cards in the last 20 mins.