RFL implements rule changes for 2013 season

The Rugby Football League has introduced nine rule changes to be enforced for the 2013 Super League and Championship competitions.

The rules were trialled and welcomed after Leeds' friendly with Wakefield and Batley-Dewsbury on Boxing Day.

One of the key alterations concerns the advantage rule.

Under new interpretations, referees can call play back to the initial offence if advantage from a knock-on or forward pass is lost before the next tackle.

Referees will award a scrum against the team that infringed first, and will rule that the team in possession has not had an advantage if they are tackled close to their own goal-line.

In addition, changes have been made to current marker tackle rulings, changes to the ball-in-touch, touch-in-goal and dead-in-goal rulings.

The complete, detailed list of rule changes is available on the RFL website.