New citing protocols announced

Johannesburg - SANZAR has instituted new citing protocols for the 2010 Super 14 season to refine and improve the current system.

The major change sees a reduction in the size of the panel of citing commissioners to ensure greater consistency in interpretation of offences that merit citing with one primary citing commissioner in each of the three SANZAR nations with each having a back-up commissioner.

The commissioners and the back-up commissioners (in brackets) are:

South Africa: Freek Burger (Andy Prior)

Australia: Scott Nowland (Dick Byres)

New Zealand: Steve Hinds (Mike O'Leary)

The Commissioners will have weekly teleconferences to ensure a standardised approach.

The Commissioners are mandated to consult with the other two on any incidents they feel should be considered, however it is the sole responsibility of the citing commissioner in the match host country to decide whether to cite or not.

Citings are required to be made within 12 hours.

The Judicial process remains unchanged.

SANZAR will appoint independent judicial officers to hear citing complaints on a case-by-case basis.