Gregor Townsend opens up on rugby's controversial rule trials as Scotland boss reveals strategy for tests

It is a contentious experiment which has already split the sport along geographical lines. The south led, by New Zealand, are broadly in favour, arguing that it will help stop dismissals distorting games and ruining them as contests.

The northern hemisphere nations are less enamoured. France and Ireland have both come out strongly and condemned the idea, citing concerns about player welfare and safety because they fear the lesser sanction will encourage more aggressive play.

Under the law variation, which has already been trialled in the Rugby Championship, a player shown a red card for certain offences can be replaced by a teammate after a gap of 20 minutes. Referees will still be able to issue a permanent red card for serious transgressions but the 20-minute option will be available for an act of foul play that is not deliberate or intentional. That, of course, is open to interpretation and could become a source of controversy across the forthcoming Autumn Nations Series which pitches the Six Nations sides against the best of the southern hemisphere.

Gregor Townsend, whose Scotland team open their campaign against Fiji at Murrayfield on Saturday, offered a diplomatic response to the law trial.

“I’m glad that the full red card is still an option,” said the coach. “I am a big believer that that is still a deterrent that we need in our game and it has been there for over 100 years.

“[The trial] is a compromise between what the majority of the northern hemisphere have looked at in terms of retaining the red card to what was coming out of the southern hemisphere which was 20-minute red cards, so we will see how it works.

“I hope that if there is something that merits a full red card then a full red card is shown, but we understand in technical offences when someone has got their timing wrong and caused what might have been a red card in the past might now be a 20-minute red card or may stay as a yellow, so we will see. We are open minded to see how the law trial goes, and as a northern hemisphere group we agreed to it, but I am glad they still retained the opportunity to give a full red card.”

New Zealand, champions of the 20-minute red card, argue that restoring a team to its full complement makes the game more attractive to spectators. Sir John Kirwan, one of the greatest ever All Blacks, claims that supporters paying top dollar for World Cup final tickets last year had the occasion spoiled when New Zealand captain Sam Cane was sent off in the first half. It’s a dangerous line of argument and one which was rebuffed by France in particular who argue that “the red card is an essential tool to deter dangerous behaviour on the field and guarantee the safety of our players”.

There are other less controversial law trials which will come into play over the next few weeks including 30-second scrums and lineouts which are designed to speed up the game. Townsend is in favour of both and believes a quick set-piece suits Scotland who will also face South Africa, Portugal and Australia at Murrayfield next month.

The opener against Fiji will see Townsend select only home-based players because the match takes place before the Test window opens, meaning clubs in England and France are not required to release their internationals. Townsend will not have much time to work with the players before Saturday and thinks having a squad made up entirely of players from Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors might actually help.

“In a way it can be a positive in that you are only picking from two teams so there will be a lot of cohesion,” he said. “We don’t have long until we play Fiji, Glasgow are in South Africa and they only get back on Sunday so it’s getting as much in terms of principles of our game and reminding players of our language and who we are and getting them ready for a tough Test match.

“But we want to get our team together as quickly as possible to take on a really improving Fiji team. I thought their summer results showed how well they are going with their non-European based players. They beat Japan comfortably alongside other big wins so they will be cohesive coming into this game which has not always been the case in the past.

“Sometimes we have played Fiji in the beginning of November and they haven’t been as strong as they have been by the end of November, but now we believe they will be in a strong position.”

There are only two tighthead props in the squad for the Fiji game and Townsend will be hoping nothing happens to Zander Fagerson and D’Arcy Rae between now and the weekend. Rae is in line to win his first cap since his 2019 debut and Townsend feels the Edinburgh front-rower is playing “the best rugby of his career”.

The Scotland coach played down concerns about the lack of depth in the tighthead position, pointing to the emergence at Test level in the last year of Elliot Millar Mills and Will Hurd, but both are based in England and unavailable for the Fiji game. With Edinburgh’s Javan Sebastian also ruled out due to injury, Townsend indicated that Glasgow’s Fin Richardson would probably be called upon should anything happen to Fagerson or Rae in the lead up to the Fiji match.

He also revealed that Scotland were planning to play an under-23 international against Italy in mid-December which would give them the chance to monitor the progress of Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, the highly promising Edinburgh tighthead who is just 18.