Players at the Rugby World Cup have been warned they face tougher penalties for diving and stricter enforcement of anti-dissent laws as they try to clamp down on football-style behaviour.
John Jeffrey, the rugby committee chairman of world rugby, said referees have been told to clamp down on simulation by issuing yellow cards (and 10 minutes in the sinbin)and to apply the 10-metre law for dissent more widely.
Jeffrey said: “There is a culture creeping it. I call it the football culture, of simulation, people appealing to the referee, players – and it has happened a couple of times – diving. That is going to be sanctioned very heavily in this tournament.
“We are the showcase of our rugby event and it’s very important we keep our values there, and referees have been asked to sanction very heavily on that. There will be yellow cards for diving and we also have the punishment in rugby that you can march somebody back 10 metres.”
Earlier this year the Toulouse player Yoann Huget received an official warning for feigning injury against Bath in the European Champions Cup while the South Africa and Toulon wing Bryan Habana also apologised for diving against Saracens in the Heineken Cup final in 2014.
Susan Ahern, World Rugby’s head of legal affairs, has confirmed that for the first time there will be a match-fixing and integrity unit at the Rugby World Cup. “We don’t believe we have a problem in this area but we are keeping vigilant,” she said.
