🏛️Official — World RugbyIn Season
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Team Sports
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ball
10 essential rules
Rugby Union is a full-contact team sport governed by World Rugby (formerly the International Rugby Board, IRB), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The sport is played under the World Rugby Laws of the Game, the current edition of which is the 2024 edition (effective January 1, 2024), incorporating...
These protocols apply mandatorily in all World Rugby Tier 1 international matches and are strongly recommended at all levels.
After a try is scored, the scoring team is awarded a conversion attempt. The kick may be a place kick or a drop kick, taken from a point on a line through the spot where the try was grounded, perpendicular to the goal line (and thus parallel to the touchlines).
World Rugby prohibits multiple forms of dangerous play. Key provisions: Law 9.11 – Charging or obstructing without the ball: A player must not charge into or collide with an opponent who does not have the ball. Sanction: Penalty kick.; Law 9.12 – Striking: A player must not strike an opponent wit...
A dropped goal is scored by a player who drop kicks the ball through the opponents' goalposts (over the crossbar and between or above the uprights) during general play. A drop kick requires the player to drop the ball from their hands and kick it as it rises from the ground.
Law 5.1: A match consists of two halves of 40 minutes of playing time each. The half-time interval must not exceed 15 minutes.
Maximum length of field of play (excluding in-goal areas): 100 m; Maximum width of field of play: 70 m; In-goal area depth: Between 10 m and 22 m (both in-goal areas)
Law 9.1 defines foul play as any action by a player that is contrary to the Laws of the Game and includes, but is not limited to: Obstruction; Unfair play; Repeated infringements
The goal posts are H-shaped and positioned on each goal line at the midpoint of the width of the field. Specifications under Law 1.6: Distance between uprights: 5.6 m (approximately 18 ft 4 in); Height of crossbar above the ground: 3.0 m (approximately 9 ft 10 in); Minimum height of uprights abov...
In response to growing evidence on the risks of repeated head trauma, World Rugby progressively strengthened the High Tackle Framework beginning in 2017.
Law 13.2: After a score, play is restarted with a drop kick by the team that conceded the points, from the centre of the halfway line.
Only the captain may address the referee
No player other than the designated captain may approach or speak directly to the referee about a decision. This reflects rugby's foundational respect for authority and distinguishes the sport from association football's collective dissent culture. Referees may penalize formal dissent, but cultural self-policing predates and exceeds the written law.
Referees routinely move penalties forward or issue yellow cards for non-captain dissent, but the norm is self-enforced by players before officials intervene.
Do not deliberately target an opponent's known injury
Repeatedly targeting a body part an opponent is visibly nursing to exploit the vulnerability is considered a fundamental breach of rugby's fair-play ethos. Physical dominance through skill, power, and fitness is celebrated; exploiting injury for tactical gain is not, even when the contact itself is technically legal.
Distinct from formal dangerous-play prohibitions — this covers legal but morally condemned tactical targeting of injured players.
The Third Half: mandatory post-match hospitality with opponents
After every match, both teams are expected to share food, drink, and companionship in the clubhouse or a designated venue. The 'third half' is considered as important to the sport's identity as the match itself, fostering mutual respect across fierce rivalries. The hosting side provides the hospitality; declining without good cause is deeply unsportsmanlike.
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At international level, formal post-match dinners serve the same function. The tradition is cited as a defining feature of rugby culture across all levels and regions.
Return possession after kicking out for an injured opponent
If a team kicks the ball into touch to allow an injured opponent to receive treatment, the team that gains the lineout throw is expected to return possession to the side that made the concession. Exploiting an injury stoppage to gain field position or possession is widely condemned across all levels.
Entirely unwritten and unenforceable. High-profile violations at professional level — especially in tight matches — cause significant outrage from players, coaches, and commentators.
Never feign injury or simulate contact
Rugby culture holds simulation — diving to win a penalty, exaggerating contact, or faking injury — in contempt. The sport's identity is built on physical honesty; players caught simulating face intense peer and public condemnation, often exceeding any formal sanction. Rugby explicitly contrasts itself with association football on this point.
World Rugby added a formal simulation law (Law 9.10), but the cultural stigma predates and extends well beyond what referees can police.