The 20-minute red card rule will be used in the 2020 Rugby Championship, a contest in which the rugby teams from Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa participate, as announced this Thursday by SANZAAR, the entity that organizes the contest.
This rule allows an expelled player to be replaced by another once 20 minutes have passed and has already been used in Super Rugby in 2020, 2021 and 2022, the SANZAAR official site noted.
SANZAAR Chief Executive Brendan Morris commented: “This is a great decision for the Rugby Championship. SANZAAR’s four national unions agree and we believe that the integrity of international matches is very important and where possible , matches must be played 15 against 15”.
SANZAAR believes that a 20-minute red card is an important deterrent to deliberate acts of foul play, while also protecting the continuity of 15v15.
The rule officially states that if a player receives a red card, he can be replaced after 20 minutes by another player. The 20 minutes from when a player receives the red card until he can be replaced are measured as “playing time”. This follows the same time measurement that already exists for a player with a yellow card.
A player receives a yellow card and is penalized for 10 minutes. If the same player then returns to the field and receives a second yellow card, it will be an automatic red. After another 20 minutes, the player with the red card can be replaced.
A player who has been tactically replaced may return to the field to replace a red carded player and if a team has unused replacements on the bench, they do not have to use them to replace the sent off player before using players who have already been tactically substituted.
Those led by the Australian Michael Cheika will begin their participation in Championship 2022 against Australia, on Saturday, August 6 at the Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza and the following week they will meet again at the Bicentennial Stadium in San Juan. Then they will play against the All Blacks, on August 27 and September 3, in New Zealand; and on September 17 they will receive South Africa in Vélez and close against the same rival as visitors on the 24th in Durban.
