Rugby to have two DIFFERENT red cards for Autumn Internationals as rule never seen in sport before is introduced

RUGBY is set to introduce a second red card as part of a never-before-seen rule.

The new card will be trialled in the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.

There will be a big difference between the new red card and the pre-existing one.

The referee will still be able to dish out red cards that will remove players for the rest of the game and leave a team a man down.

However, the new red will give them the option to send a player off for 20 minutes.

Once the time period is over, the offending team can send on a replacement player.

The permanent red card would be used for foul play deemed to be “deliberate and dangerous”.

But with “technical offices” then the 20 minute red card can be used.

World Rugby are believed to be planning a meeting next month in which the new card will be discussed.

Sky Sports have claimed that the governing body could make it the only red card “available to referees”.

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However, the Irish Rugby Football Union and the French Rugby Federation both came out against the idea of the 20-minute red card being the only one available to referees.

An IRFU statement read: “The IRFU does not support the permanent adoption of a 20-minute red card.

“Player welfare and safety are paramount to the core values of the game, and the option of a permanent red card for deliberate and intentional acts of foul play supports those values and protects the integrity of the game.

“The IRFU welcomes the variation to World Rugby‘s closed law trial, which will be adopted in the upcoming Autumn Nations Series.”

The FRF claimed that the permanent inclusion of the 20-minute red card would be “unacceptable and backwards”.

Chief of rugby at Six Nations Rugby Julie Paterson, however, defended the trial.

She said: “No trial or subsequent change is considered without utter confidence that player safety and welfare is front and centre.

“First and foremost, we need to look after the players and their interests, and the trials we have opted to use this November deliver on this commitment.”