While referee's have been empowered to slow down the scrum engagement for safety reasons they will also take a dim view of so-called time wasters feigning injury during rugby's Super 14.

While a four-stage engagement process is the only new law change for the upcoming competition, referees have been urged to pay more attention to key facets of the game including dissent, crooked scrum feeds and the annoying issue of unjustified stoppages in play.

South African sides have frequently been accused of deliberately slowing down play in order for their forwards to take on water or bog down an opponent's momentum but this year all sides will be given the hurry up by match officials.

"We want the referees wherever possible to play on for minor or suspect injuries," New Zealand Rugby Union high performance referees' manager Keith Lawrence said.

"We think we're getting far too many stoppages in the game, it's just becoming stop-start. We've asked the coaches to deal with it better -- and the match officials."

The clampdown follows a Sanzar meeting in Sydney late last year where representatives from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa expressed disquiet at the number of times players went down with inconsequential injuries.

Although they will have to be taken at face value when a scrum is needed to restart play, Lawrence said forwards -- particularly props -- would not be given the benefit of the doubt at lineout time.

"You need them for lifting but that's not a reason for stopping the game," he said.

"If you say you're going to play on they'll probably get up rather quickly.

"They (props) stop us cold at scrum time of course, but they're going down at other times when they don't need to."

The Sanzar summit also agreed to get tougher on player dissent, dangerous play and deliberately skew scrum feeds.

"There has to be credible scrum feeds, the referees will be seeking the cooperation of the scrumhalves prior to, and early in the game," Lawrence said.

Free kicks for incorrect fields are relatively rare but could increase in frequency once the tournament starts on Friday night when the Blues host the Crusaders at Eden Park. Yellow cards were also an option for persistent infringing.

NZPA