This year's Six Nations will use 20-minute red cards for the first time. The trial was in place for the Autumn Nations Cup in November and has been extended to this year's men's, women's and Under-20s Championships.

The Six Nations is to adopt the 20-minute red cards that were trialled during the autumn. For the first time in the Championship, players sent off for technical offences can be replaced by a team-mate after 20 minutes have elapsed in an initiative design to punish players and not teams.

Referees can still hand out a permanent red card for foul play that is deemed to be deliberate and dangerous, but for technical offences that are not deliberate or intentional the offending team can r