The rules referenced below are summarised in an RFU approved Logic Tree.
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28 August 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Change to Game Regulations 7.2 & 7.3
You may, in the past week or so, have received notification of changes to Game Regulations 7.2 and 7.3. This may have been via your CB, a League representative, or you may have seen it within the RFU 2009-10 Handbook.
The Regulation has, however, now been revised as the iRB has ruled that it is not permissible for the referee to require that an additional player be removed from the field of play when a front row player is temporarily or permanently suspended and uncontested scrums result.
The intention of the new Regulation is to minimise the occurrence of uncontested scrums and the RFU has now adopted what will be known as the 'Man Off' Rule.
The attached should now be considered as RFU Game Regulations 7.2 and 7.3 for season 2009/10 and the previous notice, as well as the version in the RFU Handbook on pages 206-7, ignored.
The attachment also contains a summary table reflecting how the new Regulation will 'work' in practice.
Should you have any questions, please contact either me your Referee Development Manager.
Regards
Richard Glynne-Jones
Referee Manager
RFU.com 
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