New rules for Super 15

NEW disciplinary rules will go on trial during this year's Super 15 competition in an effort to create a more effective and consistent system.

South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby's (Sanzar's) major motivation behind the changes is to simplify the structure and lessen the costs of judicial hearings.

One of the most important changes is that a referee can now refer any incident to the citing commissioner if he feels he has missed foul play during the course of a match, or if he believes he has mistaken the identity of a transgressor.

If a player complains to the referee about an illegal incident such as eye gouging, and the official didn't see the incident, he has the power to ask the citing officer to review the alleged incident on television replay.

And even if the referee has issued a yellow card or awarded a penalty, he can ask the citing officer to review those incidents as well.

Another significant change is that the citing commissioner can award an "off-field yellow card", meaning that wrongdoers will be censured even if they escape punishment during a match.