Scottish Rugby’s new Premier One Super Cup competition will play a major part in shaping the future of the game worldwide.

It was announced today that the entire gamut of law variations on which the IRB are experimenting will be trialed during the competition, which opens early in the New Year.

IRB Laws Project Group Chairman, Bill Nolan, who is also among Scotland’s representatives on the IRB, declared: “I believe it gives Scotland a cutting edge in what (laws) might come in. This could be the changing shape of rugby.”

Nolan explained that the briefing the group worked to was to “make the game simpler, make it easier to understand, make it easier to play and to take out subjectivity (from refereeing decisions)”.
The full list of law experiments is:
Flag Judges (FJs)
1. To distinguish the new role of the touch judges, they have been renamed flag judges. FJs can indicate offside at the tackle by raising their flag horizontally in the direction of the offending team. This flag raising will be mirrored by the opposite FJ so as to provide visual assistance to the referee. The referee however is not obliged to act on the offence.
Posts and flags around the field
2. Corner post, and post at corner of touch in goal and dead ball line are moved back 2 metres. This ensures consistency of touch along the entire length of the touch line and touch in goal line.
Inside the 22 metre line
3. When a defending player receives the ball outside the 22 metre line and passes, puts or takes the ball back inside the 22, the following can occur.
a. If the ball is then kicked directly into touch, the lineout is in line with where the ball was kicked.
b. If a tackle, ruck or maul is subsequently formed and the ball is then kicked directly into touch, the lineout is where the ball crossed the touch line.
Lineout
4. On a quick throw in, the ball can be thrown straight or backwards towards the defenders goal line, but not forward towards the opposition goal line.
5. A player peeling off at the front of the lineout can do so as soon as the ball leaves the throwers hands.
6. The receiver in a lineout must stand 2 metres from the lineout.
7. The non throwing hooker does not have to stand between the 5 metre line and the touch line. They must conform to law wherever they stand.
8. There is no maximum number of players in the lineout but there is a minimum of 2.
9. Neither team determines numbers in the lineout.
10. Pre-gripping is allowed.
11. If a lineout throw is not straight, the option is a lineout or FK to non throwing team. (Added 1 Oct)
Breakdown (tackle/post tackle)
12. Players entering the breakdown area must do so through the gate. RIGIDLY APPLIED
13. Immediately the tackle occurs there are offside lines.
14. The offside lines run parallel to the goal lines through the hindmost part of the hindmost player at the tackle.
15. A tackled player must immediately play the ball and may not be prevented from playing the ball by any player who is off their feet. (Added 1 Oct)
16. Any other player playing the ball at the breakdown must be on their feet. (Added 1 Oct)
17. If the ball is unplayable at the breakdown, the side that did not take the ball into contact will receive a FK.
18. If the ball is received directly from a kick and a tackle occurs immediately, and the ball becomes unplayable, the FK is given to the team who received the kick.
19. There are only 3 penalty offences (not including dangerous play) at the breakdown.
a. Offside for not coming through the gate.
b. Offside where defenders are in front of the last man on their side of the breakdown. i.e. the offside line
c. A tackled player must immediately play the ball and may not be prevented from playing the ball by any player who is off their feet
20. Repeated infringements can be dealt with as per current law.
21. All FKs are tap kicks including a mark and a scrum option is available for all FKs.
22. Dangerous play will not be tolerated. Eg. Diving over the breakdown.
23. The half back should not be touched unless he has his hands on the ball.
Maul
24. Defending players can pull down the maul.
25. Players joining the maul must do so through the gate. RIGIDLY APPLIED
26. If a maul becomes unplayable, the team not in possession at the start of the maul receives a FK.
27. The ‘truck and trailer’ is no longer an offence.
Scrum
28. The offside line for players who are not in the scrum and who are not the teams scrum half, is 5
metres behind the hindmost foot of the scrum.
Sanctions
26. For all offences other than offside, not entering through the gate, and Law 10-Foul Play, the
sanction is a FK.

The law experiments in the Premier One Super Cup follow the initial trial by the IRB of a number of Experimental Law Variations at Stellenbosch University in South Africa earlier this year.

Nolan said: “Throughout the year an IRB Law Project Group has used the rugby laboratory at Stellenbosch University in South Africa to undertake a detailed review on the laws of the game and in particular the areas of the tackle and post tackle that are proving to be the most difficult to interpret in a practical manner at present.

“Following the trial a review of the ELVs was undertaken and the next stage in their development is to test them in a higher level of competition.

“The IRB is delighted that Scottish Rugby has agreed to trial all the ELVs in its new 21 -match Premier 1 Club Super Cup in January, February and March 2007. This represents the next stage in their evolution but it must be stressed that it’s still very early days in the assessment process.

“We have made changes to the ELVs based on what we saw during the trial at Stellenbosch as we continue in our objective to see if we can simplify the laws and remove subjectivity from referee decisions without affecting the intrinsic values and character of the game, and ensuring rugby stays as a game for all shapes and sizes,” added Nolan.

The IRB Laws Project Group includes former World Cup winning Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen, former Springbok coach Ian McIntosh, former Scotland coach Richie Dixon, former French player, coach and current IRB Regional Development Manager Pierre Villepreux, IRB Referee Manager Paddy O'Brien and IRB Development Manager Bruce Cook

“The IRB laws project group is very appreciative of the positive attitude Scottish Rugby, the Premier 1 Clubs and the referees have taken in helping this important project” said Richie Dixon. He added: “It is vital we continue to trial these ELVs in different settings and climatic conditions. I believe the Premier 1 clubs here in Scotland have provided us with a suitable vehicle to gather further demonstrable evidence in our quest to trial the ELVs extensively”.

Jock Millican, Secretary of the Premier 1 Forum, said: “The Premier 1 clubs are pleased to have the opportunity to trial the experimental laws and have an input to the formation of any potential law changes. The Super Cup is an ideal format for this and we believe the experimental law changes will lead to a more exciting game for players and spectators.”

The IRB will be conducting trials involving some of the experiments elsewhere, including England and France, but Scotland is the only country where all the experiments are being trialed.
The Premier One Super Cup, split into two pools, begins on Saturday 6 January with the final on Saturday 31 March.

This article was posted on 19-Dec-2006, 17:53 by Hugh Barrow.