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I kid not but two of the trial law changes introduced for 2013 are "Allowing players to wear GPS units on the field" and "Allowing women to play with long tights."
For those that aren't aware the southern hemisphere nations usually trial experimental law changes in selected matches. Where there is general agreement, the franchises can use the trial laws in domestic competitions only. If ratified, the laws get written in the official IRB books and the northern teams use them when their season starts in September.
Given that a rugby pitch is what, roughly, 100 x 50 meters, how the f**k can players lose themselves that they need a GPS? What follows on from women being allowed to wear long tights? Mandatory lipstick and hair-do breaks?
The school I was at experimented with a change (around 1970) to the lineout where five players from each team stood alternately in single file. It was supposed to make it easier for referees to spot infringments. It was a f**kup supreme and thankfully died after the second waste of a game. As for GPS...
"I do not have to forgive my enemies, I have had them all shot." — Ramón Maria Narváez (1800-68).
"I don't need to shoot my enemies, I don't have any." - Me (2012).
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If it was more accurate with the location, then it could be good for automated offside? Possibly for try detection (but the ball with a transponder would be better)
But since most GPS is only accurate to a few meters (though with augmentation you can get centimeter accuracy) I can't really see the point! Except to tell teh Welsh team which way they are supposed to be heading on Saturday... 
We're goin' down, I'm sure of it.
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The GPS is so that a motion map of where all the players are on the field over time and how many yards they run can be stored and examined by the coaches after the match. Also allows the southern hemishpere teams to work out how many forward passes they got away with.
The tights, I have absolutely no idea 
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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This is what I was thinking. It could actually be pretty useful for football (soccer... ) as well. 
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde
Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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Why not just put a single GPS in the ball, instead of 49 (23 x 2 + 3) units for players and refs?
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Unlike the 'beautiful' game which requires only enough intelligence to chase the ball around the key to rugby is the running and positioning done off the ball. It's in part about predicting where play is going to be in 15 seconds and running there instead of just up and down the pitch or towards the ball. I've seen Rory Underwood up close taking off from 50 yards behind the ball and hitting the pass only he knew was coming a 10 seconds later more than half way up the field at a dead run. Awesome and about as easy to stop as freight train 
"The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage."
Thucydides (B.C. 460-400)
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PHS241 wrote: "Allowing women to play with long tights."
As long as it's yoga pants and not sweat pants it should be ok. 
What are they wearing now?
People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.
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PHS241 wrote: What follows on from women being allowed to wear long tights? Mandatory lipstick
and hair-do breaks?
Lingerie rugby!  But looking at some of the blokesses that play that could be real scary.
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The next step is to attach electrodes to their legs, so that their managers can select a strategy from my new RU AssKicker android app, tap a button, and send the players running to the appropriate positions on the field.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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To me, the term "allowing" means that the teams have requested it.
I think tracking each player the entire game could be used by coaches to generate some nice strategic review, as cameras might not catch all players all the time. It seems they needed permission from the league to put them on their players, otherwise risk it as cheating.
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