New rules come into force from Boxing day, which include: 1. Touching the corner flag is no longer "in touch" 2. Substitutions reduced from 12 to 10 3. Permitted drop kick for taking goal kicks 4. More leniency when the referee shouts "held" and play continues www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/24 ... le-changes

New rules come into force from Boxing day, which include: 1. Touching the corner flag is no longer "in touch" 2. Substitutions reduced from 12 to 10 3. Permitted drop kick for taking goal kicks 4. More leniency when the referee shouts "held" and play continues www.therfl.co.uk/news/article/24 ... le-changes

what a stupid rule, corner flag not being in touch, who thought that one up Fat controller and big ears probably(you know who i mean)

These pr1cks are making changes for the sake of change & are hell-bent on destroying our game.
What is the logic of reducing interchanges ? Maybe Wigan or some other golden balls club will get special dispensation for their "marquee" players so they don't bog off the pitch and nip over to Sale & get the last 20mins at winger playing kick & clap.....


Me being ever the RFL cynic !

I don't get the reduction in interchanges, but it's the same for everyone, and could encourage clubs to pick players who are really fit to play. The rest of the rule changes make sense to me (go and read the RFL page, which explains why some of the changes are being made).

I like all the changes. Expect the interchange to come down further in future too.

The wording of this one seems a bit vague and could potentially lead to some inconsistent refereeing.

Aside from that, I think all the other changes are for the better.

Michael Steele said at the Fans night that the reduction to 10 is with a view of going to 8 in the future, would we still have 4 on the bench when that happens? or might there be a reduction in that?

Mr Steele also said that 8 may be trialled in certain competitions, Challenge Cup perhaps?

The not being in touch if a player hits the corner flag makes sense.Unless a players body hits the ground over the touchline he is not in touch under the present rule. so if a player is in mid air over the touchline but places the ball over the try line before he touches down it is still a try.

Corner flag rule and interchanges were used in Aus in the last season without any real drama. I would like to see interchanges get down to six eventually, which should bring the skillful players more into the game at later stages as the forwards tire. Drop kick for conversions is an interesting one though and will be interesting to see who does this first. Also good for speeding up the game when the clock is ticking and a team is chasing the game

I think the corner flag rule is a good one, Always thought it was a tad unfair to a team if a player touched it while grounding the ball within the field, (ie not on the line)

As for the Drop Kick rule, its something i've seen done in Union, albeit not very often, was in a french game, Toulon were chasing the game with less than 5 mins left, scored near the sticks, Wilkinson scooped the ball up, ran back to a comfortable distance, turned and dropped the goal, whole thing took around 10 seconds, so took up less time than a proper conversion and allowed them to get the game restarted with longer on the clock.

Was mentioned on Twitter than Kevin Sinfield attempted to take a conversion with a Drop Goal a few years back but was stopped, but someone else said they'd seen it done in the 60s or 70s, so may have been allowed in the past

There were some awesome trys last season in the NRL due to the corner flag rule.

To be trialled in Academy Fixtures next season

why do they have to keep changing rules? if it aint broken don't fix it