The Six Nations will make use of a shot clock in an attempt to help speed up kicks at goal but it will not be visible to fans in the first two rounds of the tournament.
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At the beginning of the year, World Rugby announced a string of measures aimed at improving the spectacle of rugby to produce a “quicker, more entertaining game”.
One of those was a shot clock, to count down the 90 seconds allocated for each conversion and 60 seconds for each penalty.
World Rugby is focused on speeding up the game and wants these timings to be “strictly adhered to” in the Six Nations. If the goal-kicker runs out of time the conversion will be disallowed while any penalty that is failed to be taken in the designated 60 seconds will result in a scrum for the opposing team on the same mark.
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The English Premiership trialled this for the first time last week, and now the Six Nations will use the technology, effective in the opening round this week. However, the Six Nations executives want to make sure the clock is fully functional before showing it to the fans.
A Six Nations spokesman said: “Its operation will be trialled ‘off air’ in the first instance. Off-air trialling will be conducted during a live match-day environment, but will not be presented to fans in stadia, or through broadcast coverage.
“Consistency of how the shot clock technology is applied in a live match scenario is key to enhancing the experience for teams, players and fans, and Six Nations Rugby will review the trial of the technology, before making a decision on its future integration into matches. Across rugby, there is a collective support for the concept and its introduction to the game.”
The tournament will also ban pre-lineout huddles while a greater emphasis will be placed on referees to make TMO decisions faster.
