Rugby Football Union tells referees to make more on-field decisions to keep ...

Both officials agreed that if an assistant referee is in a good position to

rule that a pass is forward he should have the confidence to call it

according to the revised criteria ‘of the direction of the ball leaving the

hands’. Barnes reported that the ‘crouch, bind, set’ engagement call had

improved scrums but that there was still a need for “more ball out and less

collapsing”.

The RFU has added five more citing commissioners to its roster taking it to a

total of 19 with the head of discipline, Gerard McEvilly, stressing that

“citing is a key component of the modern game” as it looks to keep foul play

in check. McEvilly also disclosed that the RFU was creating a regulatory

framework to deal with coaches who might contravene its concussion

protocols. Guy Noves, the Toulouse head coach, received much criticism last

season in allowing his centre, Florian Fritz, back onto the field when

clearly suffering from the effects of a blow to the head.

A strategy to take the game to 100,000 females across the country has been

launched by the RFU. It hopes to build on the success of the Women’s World

Cup win by seeing 25,000 women and girls take part in contact rugby by 2017

while also expanding the reach of the game to attract more coaches and

volunteers.

Ian Ritchie, the RFU chief executive, expects to reach a settlement with

Premier Rugby over compensation arrangements for the disruption to the club

programme during the 2015 Rugby World Cup “within weeks”, rather than

months. Ritchie also said that he was sympathetic to the notion of clubs

being allowed to play during the knockout phases of the tournament.

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12504/9317398/jonny-wilkinson-to-retire-after-heineken-cup-final

Rugby Football Union tells referees to make more on-field decisions to keep ...