URC ‘upgrades’ TMO support in South Africa as experimental law gets World Rugby’s greenlight
URC referees during a TMO Review and an inset of a scrum between the Stormers and Lions.
Head of Match Officials at the URC, Tappe Henning, says that the competition has been permitted by World Rugby to continue an ‘experimental law’.
Due to the technology available to TMOs in the United Rugby Championship, there is less need for a Foul Player Review Officer, A.K.A TMO bunker, in the competition. Since the global implementation of the 20-minute red card, the fifth official would be called on to rule on whether a yellow card was sufficient punishment or the incident was worthy of being upgraded.
Where the URC are world leaders
However, last season those duties were handed to the TMO in the URC, with Henning confirming that will be the case again in 2026/27 with the competition being a world leader in this regard.
“We’ve got 25 match officials who will officiate in the middle and a group of 28 TMOs who will do the TMO role,” he told reporters in the build-up to the new season.
“I’m pleased to also share that our TMO process from last year will continue. That was the experimental law that World Rugby has given us permission to apply, where the TMO is the foul play review officer because we have the technology to independently review foul play incidents, and where we can then also apply the 20-minute red card in our competition, similar to last year. We are world leaders in that.”
Last season, much was made of the fact that TMOs in the Investec Championship were reliant on the host country’s broadcasters for footage when reviewing any incident but that won’t be a concern in the URC.
This is because the tournament will once again make use of Hawk-Eye and Mobi technology, meaning that the officials will have access to all the necessary angles.
“We have upgraded our facilities with Hawk-Eye and Mobi technology in South Africa to support that function, and we have seen some positive outcomes: an increase in accuracy and less time it takes to review,” the former referee added.
Sly scrum tactics
One of the other topics Henning was asked to comment on was the issue around underhanded scrum tactics to avoid a fair contest at the set-piece. In 2024, World Rugby tweaked the lawbook, removing the scrum option from a free-kick, which created an opportunity for weaker scrummaging teams to avoid the set-piece by conceding free-kicks with tactics like early engagements.
Henning says that many teams are still not happy with the tweak but he added that he hasn’t seen a trend of sides utilising those sly tactics yet. However, it is something that the URC is monitoring and will provide feedback to World Rugby on if it does become problematic.
URC referee boss wants officials to ‘win over the fans’ and rejects ‘coaching players’ claim
“Some teams aren’t comfortable with the changes; it is unfortunate that a strong scrummaging team can be almost nullified if a team is awarded a free kick and a scrum can’t be chosen,” he explained.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“When it happens in a particular part of the pitch, it is quite disappointing for teams that do have strong scrums. It is being monitored constantly, and we get feedback from coaches and players. As it stands, there are individual opinions about it, but it’s not being looked at to change it back.
“If we have, over a period of time, gathered data about how often it happens and what the next step should be, we can probably, as a competition, go back to World Rugby and put our data and things in front of them to review, but it’s not something that is a big concern at this stage.”
READ MORE: URC transfers: Ins and outs at all 16 clubs ahead of the 2026/27 season
