Injury breaks will be few and far between in the ITM Cup as the New Zealand Rugby Union seeks to reduce the running time of games.
The union is also focusing on getting referees to rule on the fundamentals better and be more accurate.
Otago Rugby Football Union referees education officer Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri said all referees and coaches had discussed the laws and priorities for the competition.
The ITM Cup will be played under the IRB trial for scrums where referees call crouch, bind, set.
The referee will control the setup of scrums and the speed the front rows come together. Halfbacks will be told when to put the ball in, and feeding the ball straight will be enforced.
Other areas that have been emphasised in recent years will also be watched.
A contest will be encouraged at the breakdown, but players must roll away quickly, and offside play from kicks will be strictly managed and players who continually ignore it will be harshly disciplined.
Those seeking to stop a rolling maul from a lineout may get an advantage. Props and support players must form up behind the ball or ball carrier and not impede defending players from having access to the ball carrier.
Tip tackles and dangerous tackles will be met with a red card.
Eden-Whaitiri said coaches and referees felt laws in some areas had become a little lax and needed to be more focused.
The new scrum rule was designed to reduce the amount of resets, make for cleaner scrums and reduce injury.
Although there may be some initial teething troubles, Eden-Whaitiri was confident the laws would be a success.
The stipulation had also come down that games be finished within one hour and 40 minutes.
Many games at Super 15 level dragged on this season with breaks for injuries and the involvement of the third match official. The match between the Highlanders and Blues at Eden Park in April lasted for one hour and 52 minutes thanks to a lengthy injury break and heavy use of the third match official.
The third official will be used in the ITM Cup but to reduce time, and when a player is injured the match will stop only if players are needed in the front row for a scrum or an injury is declared serious.
Eden-Whaitiri said even if a hooker was injured and needed to throw the ball in, the match would continue. Someone else would have to throw the ball into the lineout.
The law had always existed to keep playing when players were injured but had simply not been applied of late. Injured players should also go to the sideline to get medical attention.
Time-wasting, such as taking too long to set a scrum or lineout or kick a goal, would no longer be tolerated. There would still be seven players on the bench.
Eden-Whaitiri is Otago's only representative on the panel that will referee in the ITM Cup. A Japanese referee and one from Australia will also officiate in the competition.
Doug Rodgers will be the third match official for games played at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
James Doleman, Adam Morrison and Hamish Davies have been named as referees in the South Island squad, which will officiate in representative B and age-group games.
