Jaco Peyper reveals SA Rugby's stance on controversial 20min red card

National Laws Advisor and former referee Jaco Peyper has broken SA Rugby's silence over the controversial 20-minute red card law that World Rugby is currently trialling.

The law was trialled during Super Rugby Pacific and the Rugby Championship earlier this year before being implemented in the Autumn Nations Series.

The implementation of the 20-minute red card law which allows teams to replace the sent-off player after a 20-minute sin-binning period has polarised the rugby public.

Australia and New Zealand have previously thrown their weight behind it's inclusion in the World Rugby law book while others have resisted with both Ireland and France making their opinions public before the start of the November internationals.

"Although some believe that this rule will promote smoother play, statistics provided by the FFR to World Rugby show that a red card does not systematically mean defeat for the penalised team," a statement from the French Rugby Federation, the National Rugby League (LNR) and Provale read.

"Indeed, the analysis based on 480 TOP 14 matches and Tier 1 international matches shows that only 60% of the teams receiving a red card lost at the end of the match."

While the 20-minute red card was in place during the Autumn Nations Series, referees retained the ability to issue a full red card for incidents that they deemed to be blatant or intentional.

SA Rugby had not made their position on the law trial public until now with Peyper revealing that the union and the Springboks are in favour of the law but with the caveat that the referee can still issue a full red card.

"We are especially in favour of it if there is still a full red card as the referee retains the power to still punish blatant or deliberate foul play with a red card (of 80 minutes)," he said on Rapport's praat sport earlier this week.

"The 20-minute red card is good because there needs to be a penalty for head contact, it's well proven that it's necessary for the well-being of players over a long period of time and there needs to be an adjustment in behaviour.

"But sometimes it's just a dynamic action and you get it technically wrong and not intentional. Then we believe 20 minutes is enough because you don't want to further punish the guy who paid R1000 or £100 to come watch the game."

While the controversial law was trialled during the international matches this November, World Rugby has delayed making a final decision on whether it will be implemented permanently or not.

"With cross-hemisphere international matches having only just begun, in line with the recommendation, the council decided to delay consideration of the 20-minute red card trial until the conclusion of the Autumn Nations Series to enable further feedback and full data analysis to be considered," a World Rugby statement issued in mid-Novaember read.

In the same statement, the governing body confirmed that the 60-second shot clock on conversions â- now aligned with penalties-, 30-second setup for lineouts and scrums, play-on rule in uncontested lineouts when the throw is not straight and scrumhalf protection during scrums, rucks, and mauls had been adjusted into the lawbook.

Peyper added that SA Rugby is in favour of updating some of the laws in order to create a better spectacle for fans but warned that there are also unintended consequences to the changes.

READ MORE: Blitzboks into semi-finals in Cape Town after cruising through two pool matches