Six Nations to use 20-minute red cards for first time

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.

Lawmakers say the 20-minute red card is designed to "punish the player and not the team", with sides able to replace a dismissed player after 20 minutes.

The men's Six Nations starts on Friday, 31 January with France hosting Wales in Paris.

While referees are still able to award a full and permanent red card for "deliberate and dangerous acts of foul play", the 20-minute red card constitutes a major change to rugby union's disciplinary process.

A crackdown on head contact has been in place since January 2017, with a number of the sport's biggest recent matches affected by red cards.

The losing side in the past two Rugby World Cup finals - England's women against New Zealand in 2022 and the All Blacks against South Africa in the 2023 men's showpiece - played the majority of the match with 14 players, as did Bath when beaten by Northampton in last year's Premiership final.

"Across the game, everyone is working together to ensure we are exploring new and innovative ways to make the game as safe as possible, alongside ambitions to enhance the spectacle for fans, and the experience for players," said Six Nations chief of rugby Julie Paterson.

There are two global law trials which will also come in during the 2025 Championship, with scrum-halves being given more protection at the base of rucks, mauls and scrums, while throws that aren't straight when the line-out is uncontested will not be penalised.

Reduction in the time allowed for conversions as well as quicker formation of scrums and line-outs - introduced in the autumn - will also continue into all three championships, as will referees broadcasting key decisions over the public address system for the benefit of fans in the stadium.

Netflix will not be continuing its behind-the-scenes documentary on the tournament for a third season. The second season of Six Nations: Full Contact, which followed teams and players through the 2024 tournament, will be released on Wednesday, 29 January.

"Netflix have made the strategic decision not to continue beyond season two," confirmed Six Nations chief executive Tom Harrison.

"While we are disappointed by this decision, we understand it. We have been given the assurances this has got absolutely nothing to do with the way these two seasons will be received by the market. We are very excited by season two."

Meanwhile, the release of the fixtures for the 2026 Championship has been pushed back as discussions continue over a new broadcast deal, with the current tie-up with BBC and ITV expiring this year.

Conversations are ongoing with broadcasters as the Six Nations and its unions balance up the extensive reach of free-to-air partners with the revenues from broadcasters behind a paywall, with sources close to the situation stressing all options are being explored.

A revamped fixture schedule, with more evening kick-offs, is on the table with the Six Nations prepared to adapt to the preferences of broadcasters.

A "Super Saturday" taking place every weekend of the men's Championship has also been discussed, while Six Nations bosses are also keen to limit overlaps with other key sporting events.

From next year, the tournament will be cut from seven weeks to six weeks, with just one rest week rather than two.

This will probably result in a block of three games at the start of the Championship, then a break week before the tournament concludes on back-to-back weekends at the start of March.