The orange card, good idea or bad idea? For Mathieu Raynal, the former international referee, the new card is nothing of the sort. Asked by our colleagues at Midi Olympique, the head of refereeing’s high-performance unit even says that “it is very complicated”.

“Having a 20-minute red and a permanent red, for people in the stadium it was hard to tell the difference between them“, he explained. And he added: “Personally, I don’t see the added value this orange card brings, other than to settle very singular situations“.

A review in March

Not wrong. Only six cards of that colour were handed out in the first half of the season in the Top 14 and Pro D2. “Imposed by World Rugby“, the orange card had not necessarily given satisfaction on its previous outings.

“We will carry out that review in March in Paris, with the DTN, the League, the referees and all the coaches“, Mathieu Raynal said. Between now and then, new laws may well be trialled…