"As part of our preparations for the upcoming 6 Nations all the referees were in camp last week. In summary the focus areas remain the same and given the number of head on head clashes over the last 2 months we would like to share with you what we deem is foul play.

There are two areas that we addressed as a group that have not been raised with you before:

Scrum half dummying at the breakdown – Free Kick

Also at the breakdown, referee to call “use it” once the ball is available with a view to getting the ball back in play quicker. Once “use it” has been called the scrum half will have up to 5 seconds to play it away and if not there will be a scrum awarded to the opposition."

This clarification has been issued to all national unions, referees societies and clubs globally and will be implemented by referees at all levels of the game. Please come and speak to me or any of our other Club referees if you have questions.