World Cup referees will not ‘lay down a marker’ with reds, says World Rugby

World Cup organisers have insisted officials will not be looking to “lay down a marker” over high tackles in the next seven weeks by flourishing red cards with abandon, as some players and coaches have feared.

Following a new directive to reduce high tackles that was rolled out in May, the U20s world championship this summer produced a flurry of cards. Before flying to Japan, the Wales captain, Alun Wyn Jones, raised concerns over the tackle laws overshadowing the tournament while England revealed on Sunday that Owen Farrell had tweaked his technique to avoid the possibility of sanction.

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But Alain Rolland, World Rugby’s high performance manager for match officials, said the high tackle framework had been pulled together in collaboration with coaches and that all decisions over red cards would be made on merit with mitigating factors, such as whether a tackled player ducked before being clobbered, taken into account.

“I have made presentations to all 10 tier one unions,” he said. “Chris Pollock and John Lacey have spoken to the tier two countries. We have made it clear what the high tackle framework is and how it will operate. It is there to protect the players. We are not here to lay down markers but officiate and adjudicate on actions. We will take the relevant action, as we have been doing since the end of May when there has been one red card in an international for a high tackle.”

Meanwhile, match officials will have access to a more extensive version of Hawk-Eye’s Synchronised Multi-Angle Relay Technology (Smart) as part of a drive to speed up the decision-making process. The aim of the tournament organisers is that by the time a referee has watched a replay of an incident, the television match official is armed with advice.

“We have made it quite clear to the TMOs that there either has to be serious foul play or there has been a clear action that has been missed in the act of scoring that has to be brought attention to the match officials, such as a forward pass or obstruction,” said Rolland.

“We are working very hard to have the match officials on the field take the responsibility for making the majority of the decisions but there will be times when something is not seen but will be spotted by the TMO.”

The organisers are also keeping an eye on the weather with Yokohama, the venue for Sunday’s match between Ireland and Scotland, hit by heavy rain this week with a deluge predicted for the day of the match. If the game has to be called off, it would not be rescheduled and put down as a draw.

“A decision will be made in the main operation centre,” said Alan Gilpin, the tournament director. “A number of people will analyse information and we are in contestant discussions with transport authorities and host cities. We will start the process 24 hours before a game and any decision, which would ultimately be taken by the executive director [Akira Shimazu] and me six to eight hours ahead of kick-off.”

Ireland had to cancel a media event at their training ground on Monday because of the weather. “Two days ago I got scalded and now it is a bit like Galway with the rain,” said the outside-half Jack Carty. “It is windy and wet so I suppose it is as well we have had those conditions throughout the year.”