Does rugby need the 20-minute red card?

The Counter Ruck

In the coming weeks, World Rugby will decide on a proposal to implement a new 20-minute red card. Already seen in the southern hemisphere and Super Rugby, the proposal allows sides to replace a red carded player after 20 minutes in order to preserve the spectacle of a contest, to not kill off games when teams are reduced to 14 players.

Critics of the move say that the measure risks admitting defeat in the battle to change player behaviour and eradicate high tackles as a result of poor technique. The impending decision has been pitted as a battle of philosophies, of attitudes of leniency towards high shots both sides of the equator.

Owen Doyle, a former international referee and an Irish Times columnist, joins Gordon D'Arcy and Nathan Johns to discuss the potential new law and what impact it could have.

Produced by John Casey.

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