{"id":710374,"date":"2026-06-02T12:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/710374\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:49:24","slug":"law-clarification-scrum-halves-handling-the-ball-in-a-ruck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/710374\/","title":{"rendered":"Law clarification \u2013 scrum halves handling the ball in a ruck –"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

World Rugby have issued a formal law clarification<\/a> after New Zealand Rugby queried whether the scrum half\/half back is allowed to move in front of the offside line and then use their hands to reposition the ball while it is still in a ruck. The request pointed out the laws which say it shouldn\u2019t be permitted, but it was now common place in the elite game. <\/p>\n

The World Rugby response \u2013 which comes from a group of active practitioners known as Designated Members, a sub-group of their Council <\/a>\u2013 sets out the following: <\/p>\n

The laws referenced should be read alongside\u00a0the Playing Charter<\/a>\u00a0which is a part of the Laws of the Game. Together, they seek to establish \u201cthe essential balance between continuity of play and continuity of possession.\u201d The Charter stresses the equal importance in Rugby Union of both \u2013 with nine references to \u2018contest\u2019 and eight references to \u2018continuity\u2019. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the context the request, the rucks defined suggest a contest for possession is over, the ball secured and then the half back (or player fulfilling that role) is then playing the ball away to ensure continuity. \u00a0The laws highlighted focus on the contest for possession. \u00a0Match officials must apply the laws in the context of the Charter as well. \u00a0<\/p>\n

While the actions of the scrum half\/half back do appear to contravene the pure law wordings, there is no material offence caused and so match officials are ensuring match continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We would remind match officials that this should only be applied when the contest is clearly over; and of the\u00a0previous Guideline in March 2024<\/a>\u00a0around calling \u201cUse it\u201d as soon as the ball has been \u201cclearly won by a team at the ruck and is available to be played.\u201d This reduces the time for extra players to add themselves to the ruck. \u00a0<\/p>\n

We request World Rugby closely monitor this area of the game so objective data can be brought to the next Shape of the Game discussions for wider consideration, and for possible future law change discussions. <\/p>\n

Application<\/p>\n

So for most of us referees, of whatever level we operate at, the RugbyReferee.net reading of this makes clear that: <\/p>\n

If the 9s actions prevent a contest for the ball, that should be penalised<\/p>\n

If the contest for the ball is over, the 9 can go digging for the ball, or roll it back with their hands in order to keep the ball flowing \u2013 this is probably how most referees have always dealt with this area<\/p>\n

Once a 9 can play the ball with either hand or foot, then the \u201cUse it\u201d call should happen \u2013 it literally has been \u201cclearly won and is available to be played\u201d \u2013 this should reduce the caterpillar rucks many folk actively dislike! <\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Rugby have issued a formal law clarification after New Zealand Rugby queried whether the scrum half\/half back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-710374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710374","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=710374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}