{"id":406219,"date":"2026-01-11T12:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/406219\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T12:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:39:08","slug":"super-league-nrl-affected-as-9-law-changes-approved-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/406219\/","title":{"rendered":"Super League, NRL affected as 9 law changes approved for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The International Rugby League (IRL) board have confirmed nine amendments to the international laws of the game, which will come into force for the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>As is standard, changes to the laws have been developed by the IRL Laws Advisory Group following a thorough review of how the game is officiated at international and domestic level.<\/p>\n<p>Their focus is on improving game flow, consistency in refereeing and player welfare.<\/p>\n<p>All nine of the amendments made will impact all levels of rugby league globally, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loverugbyleague.com\/super-league\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super League<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loverugbyleague.com\/nrl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a>, with a view to ensure alignment ahead of this year\u2019s Rugby League World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the IRL\u2019s press release states that any necessary competition-specific rules for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup will be announced in due course.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, they have also approved a new playing condition for women\u2019s international matches at senior level, increasing the number of interchanges to ten following a recommendation from the Women\u2019s &amp; Girls Advisory Group.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a run through of those nine amendments to watch out for this year\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Want more Love Rugby League? Add us as a <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=loverugbyleague.com\" target=\"_blank\">preferred source on Google<\/a> and ensure you never miss our exclusives and breaking news!<\/p>\n<p>Locking the ball into the scrum<\/p>\n<p>Deliberately locking the ball into a scrum will now be deemed an offence. Teams found guilty will be penalised, with a full penalty awarded to the non-offending side.<\/p>\n<p>Packing the scrum<\/p>\n<p>Loose forwards are now required to pack correctly behind their second-row forwards. This involves placing their head in the space between the two second-rowers and wrapping their arms around them.<\/p>\n<p>Grounding the ball<\/p>\n<p>Clarification has been provided around try-scoring, with the law now stating that a player must ground the ball using the front part of the body above the waist and below the neck. This confirms that a try cannot be scored with the back.<\/p>\n<p>Active and passive offside<\/p>\n<p>Players must not encroach within ten metres of an opponent waiting for the ball and must immediately retire once an opponent secures possession.<\/p>\n<p>Offside players within 10 metres must remain passive and not impact the next play-the-ball or stoppage unless they retire behind the point of the kick. This aims to allow greater flow in play and reduce unnecessary penalties for technical infringements.<\/p>\n<p>Player safety when tackling kickers<\/p>\n<p>Defenders attempting to tackle a kicker must now make a genuine attempt that avoids late, high or dangerous contact while the kicker is in a vulnerable position.<\/p>\n<p>Playing the ball (Positioning)<\/p>\n<p>Tackled players must regain their feet without delay, lift the ball clear of the ground, face the opposition goal line and place the ball on the ground in front of their foremost foot. The law clarifies that dropping the ball onto the ground constitutes a knock-on.<\/p>\n<p>Playing the ball (Striking the ball)<\/p>\n<p>The tackled player must make a genuine attempt to play the ball backwards with the foot. The ball must not be kicked or heeled by the marker. The ball is deemed in play once it has been played backwards, providing greater clarity for match officials.<\/p>\n<p>Rugby union-style mauls<\/p>\n<p>It is not permissible for team-mates to lend weight to a ball carrier to gain momentum. When this occurs, referees are instructed to call \u2018Held\u2019 immediately, with any momentum already generated taken into account.<\/p>\n<p>Blocking and support in the tackle<\/p>\n<p>Where defenders do not attempt to complete a tackle quickly but instead push, pull or carry the ball carrier, team-mates are permitted to lend their weight to prevent the loss of ground.<\/p>\n<p>Referees should call \u2018Held\u2019 immediately, though attacking players must not impede defenders from making a tackle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The International Rugby League (IRL) board have confirmed nine amendments to the international laws of the game, which&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-406219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}