In this episode, Keith talks through the announcement from World Rugby following the Council meeting on 14 November which agreed to the introduction of four Global Law Trials for new competitions/leagues after 1 January 2025.

References to "previous episodes" relate to Episode 40: Ep 40 - What is going on with laws and law changes at World Rugby?

We talk about:

• Quicker conversions
• A new set time to form a lineout (in line with 30 seconds at the scrum)
• Cleaner play away from the ruck/maul/scrum
• Not straight at uncontested lineout = play on

The following were not approved for progression

• One stop maul
• Mark from a kick off/restart
• 20 minute red card replacement - decision deferred to 2025

Plus two new approved TMO protocols.

For full law wordings, and download links to TMO protocols you can visit: https://passport.world.rugby/laws-of-the-game/laws-news/global-law-trials-1-january-2025/

If you have any comments about this episode, or suggestions for future shows, then drop me a line at ref@rugbyreferee.net!

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This episode is all about you and something I've created for you. It's the sort of thing that I never knew I needed, but now it's a real, physical thing, Im hoping it helps you and your refereeing.

It can be a solitary life as a referee - often travelling on our own to matches, not seeing any advisers/coaches every week, and only monthly meetings with our peers. So how can we help you think positively about your refereeing and your progress?

This is where the Journal comes in. This has all the crib sheets, tick lists, advice, prep you need to help record your season and your refereeing. It's the place you can prepare for, and then analyse your performances through the season.

Keith explains how the journal came about, what's in it, and of course, where you can buy one (TLDR: rugbyreferee.net/journal - price £18.50)

What's in it?

• Place to set your season goals
• Place to record your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
• A checklist for your kitbag,
• A crib sheet to help you create your AR brief,
• A place to track your fitness tests through a season.
• And a season long Match Day Focus area - what are your big picture focus areas for each game area - Tackle, Ruck/Maul, Scrums, Lineout, Space, Safety/FP, Comms, Management.

And then of course, as it's a journal, it has a place for you to prep and review all your matches through the season! It has a calendar for the next few years, and then the meaty bit - the season-long journal

There's a monthly calendar sheets and then 4x match pages. For each match there's three key elements

• Prep page - all the things you need to get hold of and think about before your next match - colours, league positions, their form, Captains name if know, who your ARs and or Ref Coach/Reviewer. A place for logistics - directions, times, travel etc Any issues from last time/weekend to bring forward, and some focus areas for the match
• Match day check in - a chance just to use the journal to get your head in the game. There's prompts to ask say how you're feeling, to remind yourself what you want from the game, how you want to feel when you get home, and set some projections for what you want to do in the game. It's open ended and multi-interpretational. "In my refereeing today, I'm going to....."
• Match review - chance to record the match data, score, pens, cards, any fitness data you might have tracked
• Some simple quick game reflections on how you felt each area went
• 3 things that went well
• feedback points from others
• Any reflections from your prep page focus areas and then a section for overall reflections and work ons.
• And there's four of those sets of pages in each calendar month and 10 months to cover - so that'll help you with 40 matches sets. Some of you may not need that, some may need to tell me you want more in the next iteration of it! I'd love to know what you think.

All together, that's 178 pages of journal goodness, with a hard back and front and with sturdy wire binding. I wanted this to be strong enough to get you through a season of it being in and out of kitbags, cars, backpacks. So it's a quality item that will, hopefully last.

The good news is, Ive got a batch in stock now, and if that sounds like something that will help your refereeing, then you can head to rugbyreferee.net/journal for a little more info, or if you're ready to buy it right now - rugbyrefereejournal.net saves you a click and takes to you the buying page! Do your thing and I'll get one in the post to you straight away!

The buying pages has options for different currencies, and we can ship

A walk through the law change proposals coming out of World Rugby in recent weeks. What is going on? What will actually change? And when?

In today's episode, I will walk through where this law chat has come from, the importance of World Rugby's Shape of the Game meetings and all the elements that are flowing from that event held at the end of February 2024.

More information mentioned in the episode:

1) World Rugby press release: Shape of the Game meeting. 29 February 2024

2) WR Press release 2 - World Rugby reveals phased plan to enhance rugby’s global appeal

3) Law Application Guideline: March 2024 - Reinforcement of current law

Also - Laws and the change programme were discussed in the WR Player Welfare & Laws Symposium held on Monday 8 April. You can watch the session here

If you're a match official, please do come and join our RugbyReferee.net Facebook Community

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Feedback always welcome: ref@rugbyreferee.net or come and find us on social media usually at the @rugbyrefereenet handle