World Rugby Clarifies Television Match Official Bunker Concept

World Rugby has said it will “continue to be open to innovations or technology that have the potential to assist officiating, enhance game flow and advance welfare” and the Television Match Official (TMO) Bunker concept will be further trialled at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023.

World Rugby will put in place the TMO Bunker trial at the World Rugby U20 Championship 2023, which is hosted in South Africa in June, to enable further evaluation of this system. This is also in line with the key outcomes of the  Shape of the Game conferences.

Japan U20 are representing Asia at the U20 World Rugby Championship.

Television Match Official Bunker (TMO) Trial  – World Rugby U20 Championship 2023

World Rugby says the TMO bunker has the potential to “reduce lengthy stoppages and promote accurate decision-making for foul play. It has been trialled in the current Super Rugby Pacific competition and the trial at the U20 Championships will be based on the following principles:

• Red Cards (Foul Play) – For clear and obvious foul play involving contact with the head, a red card will result in the player being permanently removed from the game and unable to be replaced.
• Yellow Card  (Review) – Will be issued for any incident where a red card is not obvious, the yellow card will be issued and dedicated foul play reviewers in a central bunker will review will incident using all available technology and footage. After 10 minutes, the yellow card is either upheld and the player returns to the action or it is upgraded and the player permanently leaves the field, unable to be replaced.

World Rugby says the system could be implemented further ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2023 in France if the trial is deemed successful and further adoption is supported by the elite rugby stakeholders, and even sed at RWC 2023.

World Rugby did confirm that orange cards and 20-minute red cards will not feature at the World Rugby U20 Championship.

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