World Rugby can confirm that it has issued a written warning to Rugby Australia and Rugby Australia’s men’s 15s head coach Dave Rennie for comments made immediately after Australia’s final Autumn Nations Series match against Wales in Cardiff on 20 November.
Match officials are the backbone of the sport, and without them there is no game. World Rugby condemns any public criticism of their selection, performance or integrity which undermines or threatens their role, the trust-based coach-officials feedback process, and more importantly, the values that are at the heart of the sport and must be upheld.
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE INDEPENDENT MISCONDUCT COMMITTEE
An independent misconduct committee has found that behaviour displayed by SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus towards match officials during this year’s test series between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions constituted misconduct.
The committee was chaired by Christopher Quinlan QC, together with Nigel Hampton QC and Judge Mike Mika (both New Zealand).
World Rugby has announced the establishment of a dedicated women’s player welfare steering group that will exclusively focus on the advancement of player welfare initiatives and interventions designed specifically for the women’s game at all levels.
Women’s rugby is growing globally at a rapid pace and, in line with its strategy to cement rugby as the most progressive sport on player welfare, World Rugby is committed to ensuring a dedicated focus on women’s welfare advancement, and not just replicate or adopt measures in place for the men’s game. This approach also supports the approach outlined in the transformational 2017-25 Women’s Plan.
Players will be able wear tights or leggings in matches at all levels of the sport after the World Rugby Executive Committee approved an amendment to the laws of the game.
Currently only permissible for women, Law Four will be extended to all participants with immediate effect, enabling the wearing of conforming tights or leggings on the grounds of player welfare and accessibility.
- Best-practice contact training load guidelines aim to reduce injury risk while maintaining or improving performance
- New guidelines set out advised weekly limits for full contact training (15 minutes), controlled contact (40 minutes) and live set piece (30 minutes) training
- Guidelines follow global consultation, including feedback from almost 600 players across elite men’s and women’s competitions, and input from leading strength and conditioning, medical and performance experts
- They will be underpinned by a review and research programme to drive continuous learning and improvement, and to encourage consistent application across the professional game
- Guidelines and follow-up research welcomed by players, national unions, global competitions
- Elite teams, including Leinster, Clermont Auvergne and Benetton Treviso, have signed up to a trial measuring their training and match contact using instrumented mouthguards to monitor effectiveness and inform future advancements
More than 300 million people worldwide currently live with some form of colour vision deficiency and World Rugby is committed to ensuring they can enjoy the game at all levels.
- Participation is one of the three core pillars of World Rugby’s strategic plan launched in April
- Plan is focused on empowering the 128 member unions and six regions by increasing their capacity and capability
- Ambition to increase the total global playing population to over 10 million by 2025
- In line with strategic commitment to grow the women’s game, this plan aims to increase active female players by a further 10 per cent
- Successful Get into Rugby and Impact Beyond programmes to be expanded
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) are delighted to announce that Katie Sadleir has been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The New Zealander will take up the position from her current role at World Rugby, where she is the General Manager of Women’s Rugby.
South Africa Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and SA Rugby will face an independent misconduct hearing for comments regarding match official performance during the test series between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions.
World Rugby has announced details of a major programme that will further objective care of elite players returning to play following a confirmed concussion.
Starting this month, a panel of Independent Concussion Consultants (ICC) will be made available to the game to provide independent expert opinion on whether a player should return to play following the successful completion of the six-stage Graduated Return to Play process for elite competitions. The panel of ICC experts will be funded by World Rugby.
Rugby World Cup hosting can generate up to £2.9 billion in total economic impact, while direct visitor expenditure into the host economy can reach £1.1 billion according to independent analysis of previous event hosting designed to inform potential future hosts of rugby’s showcase event.
World Rugby has announced that Societe Generale has renewed its long-standing and impactful worldwide partnership of Rugby World Cup for the 2023 event in France.
Members of Lebanon’s rugby-playing community have spoken about their experiences of last month’s explosion in Beirut, revealing how they have rallied around to help the city rebuild.
After a regional search and interview process, Sudamérica Rugby has hired Bárbara Pichot to lead a new women’s rugby project in the region, joining as new Women’s Rugby Coordinator.
The World Rugby Executive Committee approved an adjustment to Regulation 8 (eligibility) in July to combat the exceptional disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic on the necessary residency criteria for players wishing to qualify for a national union.
Published Friday, 12 June 2020.
Published Friday, 10 January 2020.
SA Rugby and SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus have advised the independent misconduct committee and World Rugby that they have both withdrawn their notices of appeal to the misconduct decision and sanction issued by the independent disciplinary committee on 17 November, 2021.
- New Brain Health Initiative reflects commitment to educate and support current and former elite players who might be concerned about their wellbeing and brain health
- Global initiative includes new videos featuring leading independent experts outlining 12 modifiable risk factors for dementia and how rugby can play a positive role in reducing many of these
- Campaign launched at World Rugby Medical Commission Conference as part of World Rugby’s ongoing engagement with member unions, local healthcare authorities and brain health experts to advance player welfare across the rugby family
Published Monday, 18 October 2021.
ChildFund Rugby’s partnership with World Rugby in the build-up to and during Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan created an outstanding legacy for the region where thousands more Asian girls and women are active in the sport in a safer and more inclusive environment.
- New programme forms key head injury prevention initiative within World Rugby’s six-point player welfare advancement strategy
- All coaches at all levels will have access to a five-stage framework for coaching effective technique that promotes prevention
- World Rugby and national unions currently examining tackle height limits in key closed trials to aid welfare outcomes
Under the deal, which is announced just ahead of two years to go to Rugby World Cup 2023, TF1 will provide free-to-air coverage of Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand (8 October-12 November, 2022) and Rugby World Cup 2023 in France (8 September-28 October).
- Former players, current players and a specific focus on the women’s game at the heart of six-point action plan developed by the game, for the game
- World Rugby to continue to engage, listen and consult to secure the future growth of the game – everyone in the game will have a say and role to play
- First series of initiatives include new global law trials with a continued focus on player welfare, introduced from 1 August; and the introduction of Independent Concussion Consultants to support the elite game’s Graduated Return to Play protocols
- World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont addresses rugby family in open letter
British and Irish Lions player Kyle Sinckler is free to play after an independent judicial committee dismissed the citing for an act of foul play contrary to World Rugby Law 9.12.
- Rugby united in its ongoing commitment to enhance welfare outcomes
- Five welfare-focused trials to be adopted globally from 1 August, 2021
- Truly collaborative process has involved players, coaches, competitions and medics
- Players and competitions welcome trial
- Outcomes will be evaluated in 2022 in inform decision on adoption into law
Published Friday, 09 July 2021.
Published Thursday, 14 January 2021.
Rassie Erasmus, Melodie Robinson, Conrad Smith and Bryan Habana are among a host of leading players and coaches who have been appointed to World Rugby interim committees.
World Rugby has announced the appointment of Nigel Cass as Competitions Director, heading up a new Competitions Department within an organisational restructure of the rugby functions of the international federation following the confirmation earlier in the year that Mark Egan will leave the organisation after 18 years to pursue new challenges.
The growth of women in rugby in the region has been noticeable both in playing numbers as in the positioning of key women in high places.
Brazilian-born Marjorie Enya (pictured) and Colombian María Catalina Palacio Gaviria were amongst the initial scholarship recipients in 2018 and focused their scholarship on personal development to give back to the game.
International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) President, Richard Allcroft, talks about the sport’s plans for expansion, improvements in governance and developing its relationship with World Rugby ahead of what promises to be, in his words, “an interesting 2021”.
Published Friday, 12 June 2020.
Published Friday, 25 October 2019.
Sports Law Arbitration Moot (SLAM)