Sin-bin for the Six Nations
January 21, 2000

International rugby chiefs today announced the introduction of the sin bin for the Six Nations Championship, which gets under way in a fortnight.

The International Rugby Board (IRB) also brought in sweeping changes to the scrum and line-out designed to open up the game following widespread criticisms expressed at the recent World Cup.

The experimental changes will take effect from next Saturday and the impacts will be reviewed by the IRB at their annual meeting in March.

The revised laws will be in place for the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup and next month's Super 12 and subsequent Tri-Nations Series in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The sin bin, where players are sent to the sidelines for 10 minutes after committing offences not serious enough to warrant dismissal, has been used for some time in domestic league rugby but has not yet been implemented in cup competitions.

Allan Hosie, the former international referee who chairs the IRB's laws committee, said the introduction of the sin bin will deter cheats.

"The Southern Hemisphere and other countries have used it for some years and it works very well," he said. "It's the way to clean up the game, to prevent deliberate cheating and foul play and we know teams playing a man short nearly always concede a score before he returns."

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