Referees to sin-bin players who dive or feign injury at Rugby World Cup
Thursday 17 September 2015 14:13, UK
Players who dive or feign injury at the Rugby World Cup could be sin-binned as the game's governing body attempts to eradicate what it deems football-style behaviour.
John Jeffrey, chairman of the World Rugby match officials selection committee, has revealed referees have been told to issue yellow cards in an attempt to crack down on simulation and other unsporting behaviour.
"Diving would be ungentlemanly conduct. It would be a straight yellow card," he said.
"There is a culture creeping in - I call it the football culture - of simulation; people appealing to the referee, players - and it has happened a couple of times - diving," added the former Scotland international.
"That is going to be sanctioned very heavily in this tournament. We are the showcase of our rugby event and it's very, very important that we keep our values there and referees have been asked to sanction very heavily on that."
The Rugby World Cup gets under way on Friday when hosts England play Fiji at Twickenham.
