23 December 2004
Steve Lander on behalf of the E.R.U. has produced his interpretation of the January Law Amendments.

LAW CHANGES – FROM 1 JANUARY 2005

Amendments fall into 3 broad groups:
• Pitch  requirements & re-writes or re-positioning of existing law
• Minor changes to existing law
• Significant re-write changes to Law 10 (Repeated infringements& penalty try) which may affect current practice.

There have been several deletions throughout the law book, but they are for the purpose of avoiding duplication. As an example, Law 6 A 3(b) is deleted and now only referred to in Law 4.5 (a). It is anticipated that the new law book incorporating all the changes will be available from the iRB by February 2005.

Pitch requirements;
Law 1.1(c)   Artificial grass
Matches may be played on snow, sand, clay or artificial grass provided the underlying surface is safe. Concrete or asphalt surfaces are not allowed.

Minor amendments:
Law 3.11(c) Player wishing to rejoin the match
If players rejoin a match without permission - penalty kick where play would restart.

Law .4 (k)   Players clothing
Any additional clothing worn by players must conform to iRB regulation12.
 
Law 5.6   Playing extra time.
Authority for matches to be played more than 80mins i.e. extra time, is defined as the match organiser.

Law 10.2 (c)    Throwing the ball into touch
Currently written as knock or throw the ball into touch, touch in goal or over the dead ball line. The actions of place and push are now included.

Law 10.4 (l)     Misconduct whilst the ball is out of play.
Play restarts at the place of infringement except when the restart is within 15m of the touchline, in which case play restarts on the 15m line. The exception to this is when play would restart with a 5m scrum; the mark for the penalty is at the place of the scrum.

Law 13.18 (a)   Kick off & restarts
If a drop out from the 22m. area is prevented from crossing the line by an opponent the re- start is a free kick on the 22m.

Law 17    Maul
Maul definition extended to include players caught in or bound to the maul.

Law 22.16 (b)   Foul play by the defending team in- goal
Re- written to include the sending of a player to the sin bin or off the field for foul play in goal.  Procedure for this is described under the actions and interpretation for Law 10 which is explained below.

Changes to Law 10 affecting current custom & practice:

Law 10 2 (a)   Foul Play – Unfair Play) (rewritten)

Intentionally Offending.  A player must not intentionally infringe any law of the game, or play unfairly. The player who intentionally offends must be either admonished, or cautioned that a send off will result if the offence or similar offence is committed, or sent off. After a caution a player is temporarily suspended from the match for a period of 10 minutes playing time. After a caution, if the player commits the same or similar offence, the player must be sent off.

Penalty – penalty kick

A penalty try must be awarded if the offence prevents a try that would probably otherwise have been scored. A player who prevents a try being scored through foul play must either be cautioned and temporarily suspended or sent off.

Interpretation:
If a referee awards a penalty try as a result of deliberate or repeated foul play which he considers a sin bin offence, in law, he has no option but to send the offending player to the bin or off.
There may be times however, when the referee awards a penalty try but is unable to identify the individual culprit e.g. some front row or driving maul collapses. Clearly, it is not expected to send 2 or more players to the bin in this instance. Furthermore, there may be instances when the referee considers the offence accidental  but nonetheless prevented a probable try, again the referee still has the power to manage the situation. As a rule of thumb for guidance, if the offence had taken place  elsewhere in the field of play and you would not have sent the offending player to the sin bin then you should not do so just because it prevented a try. If the referee cannot identify an individual player, or is satisfied that the offence only warrants an admonishment, he should explain to both captains why he is awarding a penalty try but not sending a player to the bin.
 The process for managing the penalty try scenario should be to blow the whistle for the penalty, explain to the offending player and captains that it is a penalty try, admonish, send the player to the bin or off and then move to the posts to indicate the try.

Law 10.3 (a)   Repeated Infringements

A player penalised for repeated infringements must be cautioned and temporarily suspended. If that player then commits a further cautionable offence, or the same offence, that player must be sent off.

Interpretation:
The law change here is in the wording from, ‘if necessary’, to ‘must be cautioned’. It is still the referee who decides whether the player has committed repeated infringements, taking into account factors such as time span, type of offence, skill levels etc.   
Law 10.3 (d) specifies the standard to be applied by the referee in the case of repeated infringement taking into account the varying levels at which the game is played. This has not changed from the start of the current season.

To download the law changes as a PDF, click here. (85kb)