 Newcastle's Phil Dowson received a red card for brawling early last season |
A disciplinary crackdown will lead to more red cards and harsher penalties, the Rugby Football Union has warned.
The new worldwide code will be applied in England from this weekend's first round of Premiership fixtures.
RFU disciplinary chief Jeff Blackett said he would be "encouraging referees to use red cards more often".
"I shall also be instructing citing officers to be much more proactive in bringing violent acts to the attention of the disciplinary process," he added.
The stringent new measures introduced by world governing body the International Rugby Board are aimed at cutting violence from the game and improving consistency when dealing with foul play.
It is also hoped a more rigidly-enforced disciplinary code will avoid the Crown Prosecution Service becoming involved in policing rugby's on-field business.
"There is going to be a much tougher stance both in deciding who should be brought before disciplinary panels and the level of sanction applied," Blackett warned.
"We all want to get rid of foul play and there is a view that sometimes a yellow card has been used when a red card might have been applied.
"I have spoken to 300 people involved in discipline and it is my view that players are aware of the higher sanctions." The maximum punishment for striking a player is now 12 months while biting carries a sanction ranging from three months to three years.
The severity of offences will be judged as being a lower-end, mid-range or top-level offence - each of which carries an increasingly more severe "entry-point" penalty.
From that basis a judicial panel will then assess any mitigating circumstances or aggravating factors and adjust the penalty accordingly. "The new measures look quite frightening and there are some draconian punishments in there," Richard Hill, coach of Premiership newcomers Bristol, told BBC Sport.
"We will be having a very serious talk with our squad because we can't afford to be losing players for three or six months.
"They will have to be very self-disciplined and if sides don't get it right, there could be a few people missing for large chunks of the season."
The punch by Leicester's Neil Back on Wasps' Joe Worsley in the Premiership final last year - for which he received a four-week ban - might now be considered a mid-level offence which carries a three-month suspension.
But mitigating circumstances - a guilty plea, clean track record, any provocation - could see that ban reduced by up to 50%. Equally, if a player committed the same offence and was considered a serial offender who had pleaded not guilty and showed no remorse, a disciplinary panel could increase the penalty.
This weekend's opening round of fixtures include what are sure to be four fiercely contested local derbies with Leicester hosting Northampton, Wasps playing Saracens, Worcester taking on Gloucester and Bristol facing Bath.
"As long as the disciplinary procedure is consistent in how they deal with the players we will live with it," Northampton director of rugby Budge Pountney told BBC Sport.
"It is when they they are not consistent it becomes an issue. But the players are aware their actions come under intense scrutiny these days."
Bristol captain Matt Salter told BBC Sport that referees can help avoid incidents of foul play by "taking control of a game early on".
"Players don't tend to want to do anything if the game is taken out of their hands and referees penalise people in the right places," he added.
"The time you see stuff going on is if these things build up because the referee hasn't taken a firm stance."
MMIX
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The new measures look quite frightening and there are some draconian punishments