The age of rugby’s full shot clock is upon us.
From this weekend’s opening Tests in the Rugby Championship, in Wellington and Brisbane, not only will goal kicks be on a shot clock, but a countdown clock will now be used for all scrums and lineouts.
A scrum must be set 30 seconds from when the mark for a scrum is made by the referee. If the 30 seconds expires a free kick will be awarded against the team causing the delay.
A lineout must be formed 30 seconds from the assistant referee signalling the place of the lineout. A free kick will be awarded on the 15-metre line in from touch, against the team causing the delay.
This is the first time the new regime has been used in senior international rugby. The wider-ranging clock was experimented with at the recent Under 20 World Cup in South Africa.
As has been the case since the middle of last year, a kicker will have 60 seconds to kick a penalty attempt and 90 seconds for a conversion attempt.
Referee Luke Pearce of England will get the first crack at using the new shot clock technology when he controls the Wallabies-South Africa Test in Brisbane this Saturday, which kicks off at 4.45pm NZT. Australian Angus Gardner will referee the All Blacks-Argentina Test on Saturday night in Wellington.
In other tweaks, when a red card is issued for deliberate foul play it will mean a full red card. The player won’t be replaced after 20 minutes. Other red cards below that threshold will see a team drop to 14 men for 20 minutes, but then the offending player can be replaced.
Halfbacks will also receive more protection around the base of rucks and scrums in another effort to speed up the game.
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