New Judiciary Process for Super Rugby
Rugby's governing body, World Rugby, has endorsed the process and SANZAAR believes it represents an enhancement to an important part of the tournament that will provide improved consistency and efficient decision-making.
The changes to the SANZAAR Judicial Rules for 2017 includes the permitting of an incident to be referred back to the Citing Commissioner for review if new evidence becomes available outside the existing allowable time frame for determination.
The introduction of a three-person Foul Play Review Committee and the inclusion of the regular season bye rounds in any sanction
Another change is the ability of Judicial Committees to issue a warning for foul play offences that in their opinion do not quite meet the "red card" threshold.
Central to the amendments in 2017 is the formation of the Foul Play Review Committee. The committee will be comprised of a consistent panel of three members who in the first instance will review all incidents of red cards, Citing Commissioner referrals and misconduct, and make a determination based on the information before them.
The committee will meet at a fixed time to be determined at the conclusion of each round and the infringing player will have the ability to accept the decision of the committee or have the right to be heard at a formal judicial hearing within the following 24 hours.
SANZAAR has appointed senior Judicial Officer Nigel Hampton (New Zealand) to chair the committee and he will be assisted by former Super Rugby and international players John Langford (Australia) and Stefan Terblanche (South Africa).
In the determination of an incident and the handing down of any sanctions, the committee will now have the ability to include any regular season Super Rugby byes as part of a meaningful sanction. This is a significant change and will ensure all sanctions issued during Super Rugby are treated consistently across all teams.
"The new process is the result of the identification of certain challenges within the application of an effective and consistent judicial process," said SANZAAR Chief Executive Officer Andy Marinos.
"It has followed a comprehensive review of Super Rugby 2016 and a consultation process with the Four National Unions (ARU, NZR, SARU and UAR).
"The changes also follow World Rugby's acceptance, following a Judicial Review Conference last year, that competition organisers be allowed to tailor judicial processes to suit the challenges associated within their competitions."
"SANZAAR believes Super Rugby has unique challenges across six territories and 15 time zones and the enhanced Super Rugby judicial process will deliver a more streamlined and effective system for teams and a more consistent outcome for players and fans to identify with."
