RugbyRebels

Super Rugby Pacific announce new law innovatons for 2026 season

New law changes:
1. It will no longer be mandatory for the referee to issue a yellow or red card to a player on the defending team when awarding a penalty try. Any sanction will be at the discretion of the referee. (Law 8.3)
2. Accidental offsides and teams delaying playing the ball away from a ruck will result in free kicks rather than scrums. (Law 10.5 and Law 15.17)
3. After the referee has called “use it” at the ruck, no additional players from the team in possession may join the ruck. (Law 15.17)
4. Teams will be permitted to pass the ball back into their half before kicking a 50:22. (Law 18.8a)
5. Players will be allowed to take quick taps within one metre either side of the of the mark, or anywhere behind the mark, if they are within that two-metre channel running parallel to the touchlines. (Law 20.2)

Also

Super Rugby Pacific has confirmed that the TMO will only intervene if the on-field referee has missed a clear and obvious infringement in the lead-up to a try, or if the referee misses serious foul play.
“In Super Rugby Pacific the TMO will only intervene unprompted if the referee has overlooked an act of serious foul play (yellow card level or above), or a clear and obvious infringement leading to a try,” Super Rugby said in a press release.
“The assistance of the TMO at any other time can only be instigated by the referee, which both empowers the on-field match officials and improves the flow of the game.

Instinctively I don’t mind 2, 3 and 5, but haven’t given them any great thought.

I’m not sure on the logic/need for supercharging the 50/22 or what 1 is achieving though.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu Feb 05, 2026 6:26 pm Instinctively I don’t mind 2, 3 and 5, but haven’t given them any great thought.

I’m not sure on the logic/need for supercharging the 50/22 or what 1 is achieving though.

2 seemed sensible on first look to me, but someone pointed out that both of those offences are ones where the offending team has possession, meaning that the chances of a free-kick leading to a quick tap are between zero and fuck-all. In that situation, I'd rather have a scrum restart than a garryowen.

1 is reasonable. If a ref has just given a yellow for persistent offending and then another offence of the same type stops a try, it feels over the top to issue a second yellow. Better to allow refs to have the discretion.

The 50:22 one is one where I'll be interested to see the result. As with the rest of the 50:22s, the aim is less about the actual kick and more about the threat of the kick forcing teams to drop players back and thus incentivising attacking wide. Remains to be seen if it'll work as intended or just lead to lots of set plays of teams passing deep to a player standing on halfway for the touch kick.

Puja

Perfect example of where the "yellow on a penalty try" law could've affected England vs Wales yesterday. Plumtree's high tackle on Pollock wasn't cynical or intentional, Pollock's dropping as the tackle comes in - any other situation on the pitch, that's a penalty only. It has to be a penalty try, cause Pollock being tackled by the head is what stops him from grounding the ball before touch, but giving a yellow as well is incredibly harsh and not commensurate to the offence.

Puja