Hawk-Eye technology to be used at Rugby World Cup

World Rugby Chief Executive Brett Gosper said: “Technology is an important component of the rugby performance and fan engagement environments and Rugby World Cup 2015 is set to showcase innovation and performance to a record global audience”.

World Rugby, the sport’s governing body, said Monday the video-replay technology will be used following successful trials.

Chief executive Brett Gosper has warned that World Rugby will scrutinise every head injury in a new crackdown.

“We have a series of sanctions at our disposal to act as a deterrent against non-compliance”.

But he stopped short of vowing to throw out anyone breaking the rules.

“We think there will be compliance anyway”.

“We don’t envisage misuse of the protocols that we have, but we think it’s important to state that non-compliance will be sanctioned, because this is a very important area for us”.

The announcement of Heathrow as an official tournament provider follows the appointments of Heineken, Land Rover, Societe Generale, DHL, Emirates and MasterCard as Rugby World Cup 2015 worldwide partners, as well as Coca-Cola, Canon and Toshiba, who are official sponsors.

“The Rugby World Cup begins on 18 September with hosts England facing Fiji at Twickenham”. Gosper told Press Association Sport.

World Rugby announced that Hawk-Eye’s SMART Replay service will be used to “strengthen the accuracy and efficiency” of television match official decision-making, while also providing support for medics in the area of identifying and reviewing head impacts.

While the protocol will be unchanged relating to the questions that the referee asks of the TMO, the technology that the TMO will have access to is being enhanced with access to simultaneous multiple angle replays in real-time and slow motion along with zoom-functionality delivered by Hawk-Eye’s SMART Replay technology.

Both their cases came after the highly controversial decision by Australian medical staff to let a still clearly concussed George Smith return to the field during the Wallabies’ third Test defeat by the British and Irish Lions in 2013 – an incident that led to a tightening up of regulations regarding player welfare.

Gosper hailed Hawk-Eye as able to offer “faster, more accurate” decisions during matches – then defended the TMO process for the watching supporters.

“And that’s what we’ve worked to balance for the Rugby World Cup”.