1. Underlying Rules and Laws
The format and playing aspects of the Magners League ("Tournament") shall be governed by the Tournament Rules. In addition, the Tournament shall be played under the IRB Laws of the Game and in accordance with the IRB Regulations relating to the Game.
2. The Teams
There shall be twelve Teams ("Teams") participating in the Tournament which comprises two Teams from Scotland, four Teams from Wales, four Teams from Ireland and two Teams from Italy.
3. The Format
3.1. The Tournament shall consist of a league stage followed by a play-off stage.3.2. In the league stage, each Team shall play every other Team in two matches per season on a home and away basis.
3.3. In all matches in the league stage, four league points shall be awarded for a win and two league points shall be awarded for a draw. One bonus league point shall be awarded to a Team scoring four or more tries and one bonus league point shall be awarded to a Team losing by seven points or less.
3.4. The top four Teams in the league at the end of the season shall qualify for the play- offs which shall consist of the Tournament Semi Finals and the Tournament Final (known as the 'Magners League Grand Final').
3.5. If two or more Teams finish with the same number of league points, their placings will be determined by the following criteria in descending order:
- number of matches won;
- the difference between points for and points against;
- the number of tries scored;
- the most points scored;
- the difference between tries for and tries against;
- the fewest number of red cards received;
- the fewest number of yellow cards received.
3.6. In the Tournament Semi-Finals, the Team placed first in the league shall play the Team placed fourth and the Team placed second shall play the Team placed third. The Tournament Semi-Finals shall be held at the home grounds of the first and second placed Teams respectively. The winners shall meet in the Tournament Final.
3.7 The Tournament Final is provisionally scheduled to take place on Saturday 28th May 2011. The Team that finished highest in the league stage will have the right to choose a venue within its own Union's jurisdiction (which may include the team's own ground) to host the Tournament Final, provided that the venue meets certain commercial criteria and has capacity for a minimum of 18,000 spectators.
3.8 The winner of the Tournament for 2010/11 will therefore be the Team that wins the Tournament Final.
3.9 In the event of a tie at full time in a Tournament Semi-Final or the Tournament Final then extra-time will be played, consisting of two periods, each of ten minutes. If the score is still tied after extra-time, the Team that has scored the most tries in the match will be deemed the winner. If the Teams are still tied on points and tries at the end of extra-time then the winner will be determined by a Place Kick Competition.
3.10 In the event that a Place Kick Competition is required, each Team will nominate three goal kickers who will take six place kicks between them from different positions along the twenty-two metre and ten metre lines. The Team with the most place kicks scored will be the winner. If the Teams are tied at the end of their six kicks, then sudden death will apply.
3.11 Only players in the playing area at the final whistle of extra-time may be nominated for the Place Kick Competition. No substituted players or players who have been shown a red card may take part at any time including any player who has received a yellow card and who remains in the sin bin at the time of the final whistle of extra-time.
4. Scheduling for the Tournament
4.1. All matches will normally kick off between 6pm on Friday and 7.30pm on Sunday of the respective weekends designated by Celtic Rugby.
4.2. On the weekend of the last round of the league stage matches, all of the matches will be played on the same date and time unless the matches have no impact upon the play-off stage or qualification for the ERC's Heineken Cup.
5. Playing Squad
5.1. No player may represent a Team in the Tournament unless he is a registered playing member of that Team, or a permit has been granted for him to play for that Team in the Tournament.
5.2. Teams will be limited to registering up to 36 players at any one time (a minimum of ten must be suitably trained and experienced front row players ("Front Row Players")) who may be eligible to play for the Team in the Tournament.
5.3. A maximum of two non-European players are permitted in a Team's match squad.
5.4. A Team may play permit players from non-Magners League teams within the same Union. A non-European player may not play on permit and a permit player may only play for one Team in the Tournament in any one season.
5.5 No player is eligible to play for a Team in the Tournament if he transfers or is registered after the 31st January during the relevant season (although there is an exception for under 18 players in certain circumstances).
5.6 Each Team must nominate a matchday squad of 23 players, of which six must be Front Row Players, to ensure that on the first occasion a replacement in any front row position is required, the Team can continue to play with contested scrummages.
5.7 If a Front Row Player has to be replaced and his Team cannot provide a replacement or other suitably qualified player from those who started the match or from the nominated replacements to enable the match to continue safely, the match referee will order uncontested scrums. Should this happen, the Team concerned shall not be entitled to replace the player whose departure caused uncontested scrums.
6. Officials
The referees for all matches in the Tournament shall be chosen by the referee officers of the Unions in conjunction with Celtic Rugby from a list of referees nominated by each Union. The referees and touch judges for the Tournament Semi-Finals and Tournament Final shall be neutral appointments, that is they shall not be from the Union of either of the participating Teams unless the two Teams are from the same Union
7. Citing Commissioner
A Citing Commissioner will be appointed for all matches in the Tournament. They shall be entitled to cite a player for any acts of foul play that in the opinion of the Citing Commissioner warranted the player being shown a red card, even where such act(s) may have been detected by the referee and/or touch judge(s) and may have been the subject of action taken by them.8. Television Match Official ("TMO" )
8.1A TMO shall be appointed for any match in the Tournament that is being broadcast live.
8.2 The referee may consult with a TMO when the referee is unsure, when making decisions relating to: the scoring of points through try, conversion, penalty goal or dropped goal;
- correct grounding of the ball for a try;
- penalty try as a result of foul play that occurs only in the in-goal area prior to or during the act of grounding the ball;
- touch / touch in goal / dead ball during the act of grounding the ball.
9. Heineken Cup Qualification
Save that the winners of both the ERC Heineken Cup and the Challenge Cup automatically qualify for the next season's Heineken Cup competition, the finishing places of each Team in the Tournament shall be the sole criteria used to decide the Teams nominated by their Unions for the purposes of any competition organised by ERC.
The above sets out a summary of certain provisions of the Tournament Rules for information purposes only. As such, these provisions may be not be relied upon and for a full and proper understanding of the provisions and rules of the Tournament, reference must be made to the Tournament Rules in their existing and entire form.
