Basic laws of rugby explained
New to women’s rugby, or watching with someone who is? Here are the basic laws that explain most of what you will see, whether it is a PWR match or England at the Women’s Six Nations. Rugby calls its rules “laws”, and we will use that word too.
The basics: 15 against 15
Each team has 15 players on the pitch. Teams can also use up to eight replacements, although each competition sets its own rules on how many are named and how they are used.
A match lasts no more than 80 minutes, played as two halves of up to 40 minutes plus any time lost to stoppages. Half-time is an interval of up to 15 minutes. The aim is simple: score more points than the other team.
How you score
• Try: 5 points, for grounding the ball over the opposition’s try line.
• Conversion: 2 points, a kick at goal taken after a try.
• Penalty goal: 3 points, a kick at goal awarded after an infringement.
• Drop goal: 3 points, kicked in open play by dropping the ball and kicking it as it bounces.
• Penalty try: 7 points, awarded when the referee decides a try would have been scored without foul play.
A try followed by a successful conversion is worth 7, which is why you will hear commentators talk about being “one score” or “two scores” ahead.
Moving the ball: no forward passes, no knock forwards
The ball can be carried, kicked or passed, but a pass must go sideways or backwards. A pass that goes forward is a forward pass, and play restarts with a scrum to the other team.
The same applies if a player loses the ball and it goes forward off the hand or arm. This is a knock forward (many fans still say “knock-on”, the older term). Again the restart is a scrum. If either is done deliberately, the referee awards a penalty instead.
Offside: staying behind the ball
In open play, a player is offside if they are in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball or who last played it. Offside players must stay out of the game until they are put onside, for example by moving back behind that team-mate. Players who are offside and get involved risk giving away a penalty.
The tackle
A tackle brings the ball carrier to ground. At the top of the game, tackles must be made below the line of the shoulders, and a tackle above that line in open play can be penalised as dangerous play.
Lower limits apply in community rugby. From 1 July 2026 World Rugby brought a lower tackle height into law at community level, set at either the waist or the base of the sternum depending on the union. This applies to seasons starting after that date, so grassroots rules in your area may differ from what you see on television.
The ruck: fighting for the ball on the ground
After a tackle, the ball is often on the ground and both teams contest it. A ruck forms when at least one player from each team is on their feet, in contact with each other and over the ball. A few key points:
• Players joining must come in from behind their offside line, not from the side.
• Heads and shoulders must be no lower than hips.
• Once the ruck has formed, players generally cannot handle the ball.
• When the ball is clearly available, the referee calls “use it” and the team has five seconds to play it away.
Scrums and lineouts: restarting play
Two set pieces restart the game. A scrum, normally made up of eight players from each team bound together, is awarded for knock forwards and forward passes. A lineout, where each team forms a line of at least two players and the ball is thrown in from the touchline, restarts play after the ball goes out. Both are bigger topics, and we cover them in detail in our guide to the set pieces.
Advantage: why the referee sometimes lets play go on
If one team breaks a law but the other team can still gain from the situation, the referee can wait and see. Advantage means a clear, real tactical or territorial benefit, not just the chance of one. If the benefit does not arrive, the referee brings play back and awards the penalty or scrum.
Cards: yellow and red
A yellow card sends a player to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, leaving their team a player short. A second yellow-card offence by the same player becomes a red card. A red card means the player is sent off for the rest of the match.
Since 1 July 2026, the 20-minute red card, where a team can replace a sent-off player after 20 minutes of playing time, is now a full law rather than a trial. Competitions can choose whether to use it, and it does not apply when the action was intentional and highly dangerous.
Laws change, so this article is refreshed when World Rugby updates the laws of the game.
