Buy Now on Fanatics<\/a><\/p>\nThe Six Nations is running from February 5 to March 14 and Wales Rugby fans can get the latest jerseys, hoodies and more at Fanatics.<\/p>\n
Townsend accuses English media of disrupting Scotland<\/p>\n
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend has accused the English media of trying to disrupt his side’s Six Nations campaign amid reports he will take over as Newcastle Red Bulls head coach after next year’s World Cup.<\/p>\n
Townsend is already working as an advisor with the Gallagher Prem club, with there having already been links between Townsend and the top job there.<\/p>\n
The Telegraph reported this week that Townsend would take on the job after next year’s World Cup in Australia.<\/p>\n
“It’s pure speculation, I’ve not signed a contract beyond the World Cup with anybody,” Townsend said after announcing his team to face Italy on the weekend.<\/p>\n
“It’s a story that is being put out there to try to disrupt before the Italy game or next week’s game against England.<\/p>\n
“It’s just something that comes out, things like these, before the England game in particular.<\/p>\n
“There’s no truth I’ve signed the contract beyond the World Cup and my focus is on the Scotland team right now and hopefully up to the World Cup.”<\/p>\n
Referees aiming for ‘greater consistency’ in Six Nations<\/p>\n
Six Nations match officials say they are aiming to deliver “greater consistency” in their handling of foul play during this year’s championship, following a series of contentious decisions throughout the autumn internationals.<\/p>\n
The November Test matches were marred by inconsistent rulings on what warranted a red card, yellow card, or 20-minute red card. Amongst numerous flashpoints, South Africa’s Franco Mostert received a permanent red for a dangerous tackle against France, which was subsequently overturned, whilst Ireland’s Tadgh Beirne also successfully appealed against a 20-minute red card.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the Six Nations, World Rugby have clarified that permanent red cards will be reserved for “acts of thuggery”, with 20-minute red cards issued for “technical offences” such as those occurring in the tackle.<\/p>\n
The sport’s governing body have acknowledged there was an “inconsistency of application” throughout the November period and have collaborated with match officials since to enhance the management of foul play.<\/p>\n
The 20-minute red card system was implemented to penalise players whilst avoiding excessive impact on the result and entertainment value of a fixture.<\/p>\n
A player issued with a 20-minute red card is permanently removed from the pitch, but their team may introduce a replacement after 20 minutes have elapsed.<\/p>\n
The on-field official will initially brandish a yellow card, with the foul play review officer or “bunker official” determining whether an upgrade is warranted.<\/p>\n
Head contact during tackles and dangerous aerial challenges are infractions which satisfy the criteria for a 20-minute red card.<\/p>\n
“The 20-minute red card is for when a player gets it wrong in the tackle, an upright tackle, those kind of type of instances in the game,” explained top referee Angus Gardner.<\/p>\n
“The foul play review officer is the person who makes a decision whether the yellow card is upgraded to 20 minutes.”<\/p>\n
Gardner also clarified that while permanent red cards can still be issued for severe acts of foul play, they can only be given by the on-pitch referee and not by the bunker official.<\/p>\n
A permanent red card will be awarded for offences such as kicking, stamping, punching, making contact with the eye or deliberately targeting lower limbs in the ruck.<\/p>\n
Italy trio reach landmark<\/p>\n
Italy captain Michele Lamaro will win his 50th cap against Scotland on Saturday, with centre Juan Ignacio Brex and fly-half Paolo Garbisi also reaching the milestone in their Six Nations opener at Stadio Olimpico in Rome.<\/p>\n
Lamaro will skipper Gonzalo Quesada’s side as they look to repeat a home victory over Scotland – having won this fixture two years ago.<\/p>\n
Benetton’s Leonardo Marin starts at full-back, with Toulouse full-back Ange Capuozzo missing out with a broken finger. Louis Lynagh and Monty Ioane start on either wing, with Brex partnering Tommaso Menoncello in midfield.<\/p>\n
With Martin Page-Relo and Stephen Varney out injured, Zebre\u2019s Alessandro Fusco partners Garbisi in the half-backs.<\/p>\n
Only one player in the pack, lock Andrea Zambonin, has fewer than 30 caps, with Lamaro joining Danilo Fischetti, Simone Ferrari and Niccolo Cannone as a half-centurion at the weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond Blair Murray has been left out of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,43326,101,56,54,55,9015],"class_list":["post-410409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-six-nations","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wales-rugby-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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