How rugby works

This is a fan guide, not the law book. World Rugby writes the official laws, and competitions sometimes run trials on top. For the letter of the law, go to World Rugby’s Laws of the Game.

How you score

Four ways to put points on the board:

A try is scored when an attacking player is first to ground the ball in the opponents’ in-goal. Momentum can carry a tackled player over. A scrum, ruck, or maul that reaches the try line can also produce a try.

After a try, that team may attempt a conversion — a place-kick or drop-kick from a line through where the try was scored. A penalty try is awarded when foul play stops a try that was probably on. It is worth seven points, there is no conversion, and the guilty player is at least yellow-carded.

A penalty goal or a dropped goal in open play is three points. A kick-off, drop-out, or free-kick cannot itself be a dropped goal.

The pitch

The field of play is up to 100 metres long and 70 metres wide, with an in-goal up to 22 metres behind each try line. The lines you hear commentators name:

• Try line. Ground the ball over this and it is a try.
• The 22. The defending team’s last slice of field. Kicking to touch from here, and claiming a mark, both live here.
• 10-metre lines. Kick-offs have to travel this far.
• 5m and 15m from touch. Where lineouts actually happen.
• Touchlines. The sides. Ball or ball-carrier on or over the line, and play is dead.

Passing, knock-ons, and “forward”

You may run forward. You may kick forward. You may not pass forward.

A knock-on is the ball going forward off a hand or arm and then hitting the ground or another player before the same player gathers it. An unintentional knock-on is a scrum to the other team. A deliberate slap-down is a penalty, and possibly a penalty try.

Tackle, ruck, and maul

This is most of a rugby match.

Tackle. The ball-carrier is held and brought to ground. In elite rugby the tackle has to be below the shoulder line; community rugby is lower. After the tackle, the tackler releases and rolls away, the tackled player makes the ball available immediately, and arriving players stay on their feet and come through the gate — from their own try-line side.

Ruck. At least one player from each team, on their feet, in contact over a ball on the ground. Hands off once it has formed. Offside lines sit at the back foot. When the ball is clearly won, the referee calls “use it” — five seconds to play it.

Maul. The ball-carrier is held up by an opponent, and a teammate binds on. The ball is off the ground. The maul can drive; it cannot be collapsed on purpose. If it goes nowhere, the scrum goes to the team that did not take the ball in.

Restarts you will see every weekend

Kick-off. A drop-kick from halfway starts each half. After a score, the team that conceded restarts the same way. The ball must reach the 10-metre line. Teammates stay behind the kicker; opponents stay on or behind the 10.

Scrum. Restart after a minor mistake: a knock-on, accidental offside, or an unplayable ruck. Eight forwards bind, and the scrum-half of the non-offending team throws into the tunnel. Front rows contest possession. If the ball sits at the back, “use it” again.

Lineout. The ball or ball-carrier went into touch. Forwards line up in from the touchline, and the throw has to go straight down the middle. A quick throw is allowed if the same ball is used and nobody else has touched it.

The 22, the mark, and drop-outs

Mark. Inside your 22 or in-goal, catch an opponent’s kick cleanly and shout “mark.” Play stops. You get a free-kick. You cannot mark a kick-off.

22-metre drop-out. Restart when a penalty or drop-goal attempt is made dead in-goal, or when the attacking team kicks the ball dead through in-goal. Defenders can take a scrum instead of that second case.

Try-line drop-out. Restart when the attack takes the ball into in-goal and fails to score. From July 2026, some other “almost a try” dead-ball cases that used to be a 22 drop-out — for example a charge-down from the field of play that goes dead — restart this way too.

If a defender catches a kick-off in in-goal and grounds it immediately, they can have the kick retaken or a scrum. Hesitate, and it is treated as accepted: try-line drop-out.

Offside

In open play you are offside if you are in front of a teammate who last played the ball. Stay out of the way until you are put onside — that teammate runs past you, or an opponent plays the ball.

At a ruck, maul, scrum, or lineout there is a physical offside line. Cross it early and you will hear the crowd before you hear the whistle.

Cards and foul play

• Penalty. Kick at goal, kick for touch and the throw, or tap and go.
• Yellow card. Ten minutes off. The team plays a player short.
• Red card. Sent off. In elite rugby a 20-minute red-card replacement is now full law: the player is gone, but a substitute can come on after 20 minutes.

High tackles, no-arms hits, lifting and dropping a player on their head or upper body, and taking someone out in the air are the ones that empty a stadium. The TMO can look at foul play and grounding. They do not rerun the whole match.

Common questions

Why does the referee shout “use it”?

The contest for the ball is over. Once it is clearly available, the team in possession has five seconds to play it. Wait longer and the other side get a scrum.

Why a scrum after a knock-on, but a penalty after a high tackle?

A knock-on is a skill error, so play restarts with a scrum. A high tackle is foul play. That is a penalty, and often a card as well.

Can you score from a kick-off?

Not with a dropped goal. You can still gather the restart and attack. If the kick-off goes straight into in-goal and is grounded immediately, the receiving team can make you kick again or take a scrum.

What is advantage?

After an infringement, the referee can let play continue if the non-offending team might get something better than the whistle. If they do not, play comes back to the original offence.

Are sevens and under-19s the same laws?

Same family, different variations: squad size, match length, and some scrum and tackle detail change. This page is 15-a-side rugby union.