The games will be played under the Laws of the Game as formulated by the International Rugby Board (IRB) and circulated by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU).
There will be 1, 2 or 4 pools in each competition depending on the number of entered teams. Each team will play each other team in their pool in the pool rounds. Qualifying teams will then play Cup, Plate or Bowl semi-finals and finals. A Tournament Draw will be posted at Eridge Park prior to the commencement of the Tournament, and as far as possible, circulated to teams prior to that date. The Tournament Director will alter the pool and semi-final structure according to the number of registered teams in each age group. If teams withdraw prior to the competition or fail to attend within the time specified on the day of the competition, the Committee reserves the right to make substitutions at its sole discretion.
All players must be registered and the registration sheet (with players’ names, jumper numbers or other identifying marks, ARU ID number, date of birth, coach, trainer & manager names) must be completed and signed by the coach and manager. Each team must register no more than 15 players with the Match Day Controller at least one hour prior to their first game. Each team will consist of a minimum of 10 players, a maximum of 15 players, and a Coach, Manager and Trainer. Only 12 of a team’s players may play each game and be within the playing area during their game. No more than 7 players may be on the playing field during a game. No swapping of players between teams or age groups is permitted. Once a player has been registered with a team, he or she may only play for that team during the tournament. The Tournament Director may relax the rules relating to teams to facilitate the smooth operation of the Tournament at his or her discretion.
Competition age groups are: Mens Open Womens Open Mens Colts (U19) Boys U17 Girls U17 Boys U15 Girls U15 Boys U13 Girls U13 2. All players must play within their correct age groups, unless they can provide written evidence of dispensation to play up more than one age group, or down one or more age groups, as required by the relevant ARU rules and regulations.
Players may be interchanged with reserves during the game. The number of interchanges is unlimited and a player previously replaced may return to the game. Interchanges are to occur at the sideline within the interchange area. The replacing player may not take the field until the replaced player has entered the inter-change area and the replacing player may only enter the field in an on-side position. Should a squad be reduced to less than 10 players due to players being injured and unable to participate in subsequent matches, substitute players may be obtained from any of the teams of comparable ability or below who are already eliminated, provided the Tournament Director approves the substitution after advice from the Tournament Medical Officer. The minimum number of players a team must have to commence a game is 5.
The Tournament Organisation Committee reserves the right to eliminate any team not ready to proceed onto the field 5 minutes prior to the advertised time. There will be no lining up of teams in the centre of the field. The toss for ends must be taken before entering the field. Playing times for all games will be 2 halves of 7 minutes each with a 1-minute halftime break. At halftime the teams will change ends immediately. Halftime and fulltime play during all games except Cup finals will halt immediately after the siren has sounded. In Cup finals (only) the referee will call half time and full time at the next break in play after the siren has sounded. No further scoring will be registered after the siren has sounded (in all games except Cup finals) or after the referee has called half time or full time (in Cup finals), other than (1) a conversion yet to be taken or (2) where a penalty has already been given and an option for a penalty kick at goal has been relayed to the referee by the on-field captain. If a penalty has been awarded before the halftime or fulltime siren the only option is for a kick at goal. In all cases the timekeeper / Match Day Controller shall be the sole judge of time There will be no time off for injuries.
Where a team is not on the field and ready to play at the appointed time for their game, that team will incur a points penalty or forfeit the match. If a team is not on the field and ready to play at the appointed time but ready to play before the hooter has sounded for the end of the first half of that game, the referee and Match Day Controller may allow the game to commence and the opposition team will receive 10 points. If a team is not on the field and ready to play at the appointed time or after the hooter for the commencement of the second half, that team will forfeit the game and the opposition will record a 20-0 win. The Match Day Controller’s ruling will be final.
Where an injury to a player causes play to stop, player welfare is paramount. If play remains impossible until the end of the game in which the player was injured, the final score will be the score at the time of the injury. No further games will be played on a field where an injured player remains until that player is moved with the approval of the Tournament medical staff or by a NSW Ambulance. If an injury to a player prevents subsequent games to commence at the appointed time, the referee will only commence play when the player has been safely moved as above, and the game will finish at the originally appointed time, even if that game is shortened. If an injury to a player prevents subsequent games to be played on that field at all, each affected game will be counted as a 20-20 draw for the purposes of semi-final and finals calculations.
There will be a minimum of 3 players in a scrum and a minimum 2 players in a lineout. Scrums will follow the IRB scrum rules, employing the “crouch, bind, set” sequence.
All kick-offs, conversions and penalty goals will be taken by a drop-kick and completed within 40 seconds of being awarded, or within 30 seconds of the time-keeper determining that the goal kicking side is in possession or ought to reasonably be in possession of the ball. The team scoring takes the kick-off to restart play.
There will be a Points Table for each pool, with 4 points awarded for a win and 2 points for a draw. Points allocation may be altered by the Tournament Director where it is decided to play half-games to facilitate an odd number of teams in a pool. The aggregate points at the end of the pool rounds will determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd in each pool. If teams have equal points after the pool rounds, positions will be determined in the following order: 1. For-and-against differential2. The team with the most points scored in their pool games3. The team that scores the most tries in their pool games A computer-based random number generator In the Cup finals in each age group, if the scores are equal at full time an additional 3 minutes each way will be played. During extra time the team that scores points first is immediately declared the winner without any further play i.e. Golden Point. If the scores are still equal after extra time, the teams will play successive periods of extra time, 3 minutes each way with Golden Point, until a winner is determined. In the Plate and Bowl finals in each age group, the same rules as above will apply except that extra time will be 2 minutes each way, Golden point. If the scores are still equal after extra time in Plate and Bowl finals, the winner will be determined by a count-back in the following order:1. Most tries in the final2. First try scorer in the final3. First point scorer in the final4. Least penalties in the final Before extra time starts, the referee will organise a toss. The winner of the toss decides whether to kick off or choose an end. If the winner of the toss decides to choose an end, the opponents must kick off and vice versa.
If a player is sin-binned (Yellow Card) it will be for 2 minutes duration. The 2 minutes will commence when the referee restarts play. If a player is sent off (Red Card) it will be for the remainder of the tournament and must be dealt with by the player’s Competition Judiciary Committee. Yellow Cards are cumulative i.e. 2 Yellow Cards are equivalent to a Red Card. Yellow and Red Cards will be reported to the Competition Manager in which the player’s club competes. There will be no judiciary conducted by the Tournament Organisation Committee on the day of the tournament. Red Cards require a Send-off Report, which will be lodged with the player’s home Union. The Tournament Committee consisting of the Tournament Director, Referee Director and Bowral Blacks Club Coach will adjudicate all disputes and the Committee's decision is final.
Each team is required to supply one touch judge for each game they participate in. Southern Highlands 7s will supply referees, timekeepers and scorers. The tournament rules can be downloaded here
