The new season of the Varsity Cup, which gets under way on Monday night, will give South Africans a first taste of the tackle law changes for school and club rugby.

SA Rugby announced in December that the new laws were approved for the 2024 school and club season at a general council meeting.

The updated laws relate to lowering of the maximum legal height at which a tackle may be made while also outlawing potentially dangerous ball-carrying actions and techniques.

The key changes are that tackles must be made below the sternum (breastbone) and that ball-carriers must have head and shoulders above the hips, and must make the ‘safe zone’ accessible to the tackler.

Pick-and-drive carries are still allowed, but ball carriers must not have their head below their hips and may not use a hand on the ground to propel themselves forward.

The tackle law changes are in effect for the new season of the Varsity Cup, which kicks off at 4.45pm on Monday when UFS Shimlas host UCT Ikeys.

“We wouldn’t normally have spent so much time on tackle techniques, but we had to do it now,” Shimlas coach Andre Tredoux told Sunday newspaper Rapport.

Twitter: @varsitycup