World Rugby's new disciplinary process for upcoming Tests
NEWS: World Rugby has confirmed that the upcoming international window and the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia will see a new, faster, and simpler disciplinary process being trialled.
In an official statement, World Rugby announced that the trial will first be applied to the England XV v France XV match on Saturday, June 21, and then to all World Rugby competitions and international tests where World Rugby is responsible for managing the disciplinary process, starting from Friday, June 27.
The new disciplinary process for any player who receives a red card or is cited will have three stages.
Stage 1: An Independent three-person Foul Play Review Committee will meet remotely within 24 hours of the final whistle of the match or match day to assess any relevant incidents and propose a sanction to the player. The incidents the committee will consider will be publicly confirmed by World Rugby ahead of the meeting.
Stage 2: A player can choose to accept or not accept the proposed sanction within a short timeframe.
Stage 3: Where the player does not accept the sanction, the matter will be referred to an Independent Disciplinary Committee, which will issue a final sanction. The Independent Disciplinary Committee’s Hearing outcome will be published by World Rugby.
The Foul Play Review Committee may decide to refer matters to the Disciplinary Committee without having reached a decision, for example, if the incident is serious, in cases of match official abuse, etc. In those circumstances only, the player may appeal the decision of the Disciplinary Committee to an Appeal Committee.
Because of the nature of a test series with midweek fixtures, for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, the Foul Play Review Committee will meet within 20 hours of the end of the match in question. Should any Independent Disciplinary Committee hearings be required, they will take place within 48 hours of the final whistle. The citing window in all cases will be shortened to 12 hours after the final whistle.
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