The non-offending team gets the feed, but the ball is still scrummaged.

The ruleset used on this page

This explanation applies the International Rugby League 2026 International Laws of the Game for the running, 13-a-side game, especially Sections 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 16. IRL’s 2026 amendments took effect on 1 January 2026.

It does not describe rugby union scrums, wheelchair rugby league or modified age-grade formats. National federations and competitions may add playing conditions. A notable 2026 exception is the Men’s and Women’s Rugby League World Cup, which IRL has confirmed will use 2026 NRL/NRLW Premiership Rules and Interpretations rather than the unmodified international baseline.

When IRL requires a scrum

Section 12.1 makes the scrum the residual restart when play is not restarting with a kick-off, drop-out, penalty, play-the-ball, optional kick or tap. The specific law governing the stoppage still decides the result. Common examples are:

• Accidental knock-on: scrum unless the special regather rule, advantage or last-tackle exception applies (Section 10.2).
• Accidental forward pass: scrum; a pass the referee regards as deliberate is a penalty instead (Section 10.1 and notes).
• Accidental loss after a completed tackle: scrum except after the fifth play-the-ball (Section 11.8).
• Accidental interference at a quick kick-off or drop-out: scrum where the player had no adequate opportunity to retire; wilful interference is a penalty (Section 8.6).
• Injury stoppage while nobody has possession: if the referee stops because continuing would endanger an injured player, restart with a scrum where the ball was; the team then or last in possession receives loose head and put-in (Section 7.5).

Three checks can remove the expected scrum

1. Was there really a completed knock-on? Under Section 10.2, the player who accidentally knocks on may regain or kick the ball before it touches the ground, a goal post, crossbar or an opponent. If so, play continues.
2. Did the other team obtain advantage? Section 16 applies advantage to every phase. Mere contact with the ball is not enough: the referee must judge that the non-offending side had an adequate opportunity to use a tactical or territorial benefit.
3. Was it after the fifth play-the-ball? Section 11.7 requires a handover when the team in possession then commits an accidental breach that would normally produce a scrum. If possession changes through the breach before the referee stops play, the next tackle is a zero tackle.

Ordinary touch is no longer a scrum under this baseline

Under IRL 2026 Section 9, ordinary touch in general play restarts with a play-the-ball, subject to that section’s specific exceptions. A qualifying 40–20 or 20–40 uses a tap restart. A penalty kick that finds touch is followed by a free kick. A ball kicked or propelled forward into touch on the full normally results in a handover, subject to Section 9.4’s in-goal exception.

Those outcomes explain why “the ball went dead, so it must be a scrum” is unreliable. First identify the event and then use its own section of the law book.

Loose head and put-in go together

Section 12.5 gives the non-offending team both advantages. The loose head is the front-row player nearest the referee; the put-in is the act of feeding the ball into the tunnel. “Awarded against” a team means that team loses those advantages.

This is not an absolute guarantee of possession. Section 12 permits the forwards to push once the scrum is correctly formed and permits the hookers to strike after the ball touches the ground in the tunnel. In practice the put-in is a major advantage, but the legal mechanism is still a scrum rather than an uncontested handover.

A full pack forms 3–2–1

Section 12.2 allows no more than six players from either team to help form the scrum. With six, the compulsory shape is three front-row forwards, two second-row forwards and one loose forward. The front rows interlock to make a tunnel at right angles to touch; the hooker binds over the two supporting forwards; the second row packs into the two gaps behind; and the loose forward binds behind and around the second row.

The loose-forward binding is express 2026 wording. If injuries deplete a team, the notes permit 3–1–0 or 3–1–1 as well as 3–2–1, with at least three forwards packing and no more than seven players acting as backs. No player may add weight after the feed.

The halfback must feed square and without delay

Under Section 12.6, the feeding halfback stands square on the referee’s side with both hands on the ball. The scrum must already be correctly formed. Both props on the feed side put their outside feet forward, and the halfback feeds through the space between those feet.

The feeder must not hesitate, dummy or delay unduly. Immediately after the put-in, the halfback must begin retiring behind their own pack. The notes permit the halfback to pick up a correctly scrummaged ball while genuinely carrying out that retirement.

Feet play the ball until it emerges

While the ball is in the scrum, Section 12.8 allows it to be played only with the foot. Front-row players cannot advance a foot into the tunnel, raise a foot before the feed or strike before the hookers. A hooker may strike with either foot once the ball contacts the ground; the other forwards may then kick or heel it.

The law also prohibits wilfully collapsing the scrum, putting a body part other than the feet on the ground and wilfully delaying correct formation. Pushing is legal after correct formation. If pushing moves the scrum an appreciable distance to one side’s disadvantage before the feed, the referee reforms it at the original position.

Correct emergence releases the backs

Section 12.9 says the ball is in play only after it first emerges from between and behind the inner feet of the second-row forwards. Until then, a forward in the scrum cannot handle it. If it fails to emerge correctly and neither team is at fault, the ball is put in again.

A wheeled scrum does not by itself kill play. Under Section 12.12, if the ball emerges correctly it is live; a forward may detach to gather or kick it, and a back who stayed behind the required line may play it. Deliberately locking the ball in the scrum is different: from 1 January 2026, it brings a full penalty.

Most backs wait five metres behind the pack

The non-feeding scrum half must retire immediately behind that player’s own last row of forwards. Every other player outside the scrum—apart from the halfback putting the ball in—must remain at least five metres behind the last row of their own pack until the ball emerges correctly (Section 12.7).

Section 13’s notes allow the team winning a penalty for early detachment or backs being offside to choose a scrum reset instead. The five-metre rule is the IRL 2026 baseline; do not import a distance seen in another league, old edition or modified format.

The published detachment wording needs care

There is tension within the 2026 law book. Section 12.2 says all players must remain in the scrum until the ball is out, but the note to Section 12.3 says a forward may detach at any time provided the team does not already have seven backs. Section 13 also refers to “early detachment” as an offence for which the non-offending team may choose a reset.

This page does not silently resolve that wording. In an appointed competition, follow the referee guidance and competition interpretation in force. The safe practical reading for a player is not to leave early unless the applicable interpretation permits it; correct emergence unquestionably releases players under Section 12.12.

The feeding team has five seconds to choose

Under Section 12.10, the default mark is where the breach occurred. It cannot be closer than 20 metres to a touch line or 10 metres to a goal line. Within five seconds of the referee verbally awarding the scrum, the team with loose head and feed may choose a mark in line with the original infringement at:

• 10 metres in from touch;
• 20 metres in from touch; or
• centre field.

The chosen mark must remain on the same side of the field as the infringement. If no clear choice is made in time, the referee uses the original point subject to the 20-metre and 10-metre minimums.

Reset, re-feed and penalty are different rulings

• Reform: use the original position if pre-feed pushing moves a correctly formed scrum appreciably to one team’s disadvantage.
• Re-fed scrum: use when the ball fails to emerge correctly and fault cannot be assigned.
• Penalty: applies to scrum misconduct and offences before proper formation; Section 13 says the award applies to forwards and players outside the scrum.
• Penalty or scrum reset option: the non-offending team has this choice for early detachment and backs being offside.
• Full penalty: expressly applies when a team deliberately locks the ball in the scrum.

If a scrum wanders, the mark for a related penalty remains where it was first formed.

A knock-on is recovered before it completes

Situation: on tackle three, Blue 6 accidentally knocks the ball forward but catches it before it touches the ground, a post, crossbar or opponent.

IRL 2026 ruling: play on under Section 10.2. The decisive fact is the same player’s regather before any listed contact; there is no completed scrum-triggering infringement.

The same error occurs after the fifth play-the-ball

Situation: Blue throws an accidental forward pass after the fifth play-the-ball and the referee stops play.

IRL 2026 ruling: handover, not scrum. Section 11.7 replaces the normal scrum when the team in possession commits that accidental breach after the fifth play-the-ball.

The defending backs stand only four metres away

Situation: Red’s non-packing backs remain four metres behind their last row as Blue feeds.

IRL 2026 ruling: Red is offside under Section 12.7. Section 13 allows Blue, as the team winning the penalty, to choose a scrum reset instead. The decisive fact is that these players are not one of the scrum halves and have not reached five metres.

The scrum wheels but the ball comes out legally

Situation: the packs rotate after the feed; the ball then emerges between and behind the inner feet of the second row.

IRL 2026 ruling: play on. Section 12.12 says a wheel does not invalidate correct emergence. A back may play the ball only if that player remained behind the scrum until it emerged.

An awarded scrum is not always played after the siren

Under Section 7, if time expires while the ball is already out of play, the half normally ends. The scrum note creates a narrower continuation: if the scrum has been set and fed before time expires, play continues until the next tackle or until the ball goes out of play.

So “the referee awarded a scrum before the siren” is not the stated test. Formation and feed before expiry are decisive under the IRL baseline; a competition with its own clock procedures may add instructions.

How to decide the restart

1. Name the stoppage. Knock-on, forward pass, completed-tackle loss, touch, injury or restart interference each has its own law.
2. Classify the act. Deliberate conduct may be a penalty; an accidental breach may point toward a scrum.
3. Check play-on routes. Apply the knock-on regather test and the referee’s advantage judgment.
4. Check the tackle count. After the fifth play-the-ball, replace the normal scrum with the Section 11 handover.
5. Award possession advantages. Give the non-offending team—or the team specified by the stoppage law—loose head and put-in.
6. Set the mark. Apply the field minimums and the feeding team’s five-second location choice.
7. Manage formation to emergence. Check binding, feed, five-metre lines and legal use of feet, then distinguish reform, refeed, penalty and play on.

RLWC2026 does not use this baseline unchanged

IRL announced on 29 April 2026 that the Men’s and Women’s Rugby League World Cup 2026 will adopt the 2026 NRL and NRLW Premiership Rules and Interpretations. The tournament package includes scrum shot clocks, the Video Review Bunker and Captain’s Challenge.

That affects procedure even where the underlying scrum principles look familiar. For an NRL, NRLW, World Cup, Super League, community or age-grade match, check the appointed competition rules rather than assuming every detail on this international-baseline page controls.

Claims the 2026 laws do not support

• “Every knock-on is a scrum.” Regather, advantage, deliberate conduct and the last-tackle exception can all change the result.
• “The feeding team automatically owns the ball.” It has loose head and put-in, but legal pushing and striking remain permitted.
• “Every ball into touch produces a scrum.” Ordinary IRL touch now uses a play-the-ball; special kicks have other restarts.
• “The ball is live as soon as it is fed.” Section 12.9 requires correct emergence from between and behind the second-rowers’ inner feet.
• “A wheeled scrum must be reset.” Correct emergence keeps the ball live.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• International Rugby League — 2026 International Laws of the Game with Notes on the Laws, Sections 7–13 and 16
• International Rugby League — Amendments to International Laws 2026, effective 1 January 2026
• International Rugby League — Rugby League World Cup 2026 rules confirmed, 29 April 2026

Checked against the IRL 2026 law book and the amendments implemented on 1 January 2026. The primary scope is international 13-a-side rugby league. Competition rules may supplement or replace this baseline; RLWC2026’s confirmed NRL/NRLW interpretation package is identified above.