INTERCHANGES CUT TO 10 NEXT YEAR

The number of substitutions during matches will be reduced from 12 to 10 from next season, the Rugby Football League have announced.

Clubs will still have four players on the replacements bench but coaches will have to make more use of their 17-man squad.

The move is designed to restore some of the old-fashioned virtues of the rugby league forward. It will mean more work for some and could spell the end for front rowers who have been used in short spells to make an impact from the bench.

It is among a number of rule changes introduced by a committee of past and present players, coaches and administrators with the intention of bringing uniformity across the game.

The 10-interchange policy is already in use in Australia's National Rugby League and will now become part of international law.

The changes will apply to all domestic competitions, including Super League and the Championship, and will take effect from Boxing Day, when there are three all-Super League friendlies.

In other notable changes, players in possession who come into contact with the corner flag during general play will no longer be deemed to be in touch and players will be allowed to drop-kick for goal when taking conversion attempts.

In addition, referees will be told to show more leniency to players who carry on playing after failing to hear their shout of "held". Instead of being penalised, the players will be allowed to go back and play the ball.

"There are three different rules at the moment and it is a matter of tidying them up," RFL chief executive Nigel Wood said.

Wood confirmed that the League have abandoned plans for England to tour down under in 2012 and will instead play a series of internationals in the northern hemisphere.

The Four Nations Series, hailed by Wood as an outstanding success this year, will not return until 2014 and the RFL's proposals for a tour have been thwarted by the Australians' pledge to give their players an extended close season to prepare for the 2013 World Cup in Europe.

Wood said a proposal to play the Pacific nations, such as Fiji and Papua and New Guinea, on a tour proved to be "not practical or economic".

The news will disappoint England coach Steve McNamara in his attempts to build on the progress made this year, but the RFL say they are close to unveiling a 22-month international programme that will provide the national team with meaningful matches right up to the World Cup in the autumn of 2013.

"The international programme is taking shape," said Wood, who is hoping the commission that is being formed to run the game in Australia will be less insular when it comes to the world-wide game.

"The RFL's policy on the primacy of international football is not necessarily shared by everyone around the world.

"The NRL have issues of their own to work through but hopefully the new administration will have a more enlightened attitude."

so would that rule out Mr Agar looking for an old style prop.

Not sure on the drop goal for conversion rule. The number of changes is not a bad thing will make coaches think more about how to use the subs. And the using common sense for players moving off the mark is a good change.

Think this will cause a few controversies next year.

Hmmm...

How about those instances where the gang tackle is underway and 3 or 4 defenders are in on the attacking player; he manages to stay up in the tackle and the ref calls held, and they proceed to chuck him to the floor anyway.

Did they fail to hear the shout of 'held,' or are they just cheating?

I don't like this one - it happened dozens of times per game last season and with the introduction of a rule to assist the selectively hard of hearing, will be ruthlessly exploited.

just give the refs a megaphone or a cattle prod that will sort it

Aye, I've advocated the cattle-prod before, to stop players approaching the ref; Sinfield would think twice about his football style appeals for example, if he had to contend with 10,000 volts to the knackers.

taser gun that would be dead funny

Definitely a god thing if you're chasing the game with a short amount of time left, but obviously the opposite if you're leading by 8-12 points with a couple of minutes to go. That being said, it isn't likely to be used much - how often have we seen teams try kicking for touch on a 20m restart?

Seems like we are following the nrl style of slowing play down which suited Wigan and shudder season before last. Just as long as there is some consistency then can't complain. Think the international game may have had a big influence on this decision.

For that read - the Aussies did it, so everyone else had to follow suit.

why dont we leave the bloody rules alone every bloody year

I'm very much in favour of continuous improvement as a concept; we should always be open to things that improve the game, either from a safety perspective or as a spectacle.

What I'm less comfortable about though is tinkering with rules for specific situations, whilst we still don't seem able to get the existing ones consistently applied.

It's a bit like making a new law to deal with using a mobile phone whilst driving, when there's a perfectly serviceable 'driving without due care and attention' law that could be applied.