The try line is in-goal; the outer lines are dead.

The ruleset used on this page

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, including the Sevens variations, as updated in World Rugby's law assets on 1 July 2026. The controlling provisions are the definitions and Laws 8, 12, 18, 19 and 21.

It is the international baseline for the standard seven-a-side game. A national union, age-grade programme or tournament may add authorised ground dimensions, match-official protocols or local variations. Those must be identified from the appointed competition rules rather than assumed to apply to every sevens match.

Which lines belong to which area

• Field of play: between the try lines and touchlines; none of those lines is part of the field of play.
• In-goal: between the try line and dead-ball line and between the touch-in-goal lines. It includes the try line, but excludes both outer line types.
• Playing area: the field of play plus both in-goal areas. Touchlines, touch-in-goal lines and dead-ball lines are outside it.

World Rugby now uses try line as its primary term; its definitions direct readers from the older term goal line to try line.

Possession changes the contact test

Under World Rugby Law 18.1, a loose ball is in touch or touch-in-goal when it touches the relevant boundary line or anything beyond. A ball being held is out when the ball, or the ball-carrier with it, touches the boundary line or the ground beyond.

A player already touching a boundary or ground beyond it puts the ball out by catching or holding it. If the ball had already reached the plane of touch, that catcher did not cause it to go out; if it had not, the catcher is treated as taking it into touch. That distinction can change the mark and restart.

Crossing the vertical plane is not enough

Law 18.2 keeps the ball live when it reaches the plane of touch but is caught, knocked or kicked by a player in the playing area. It also permits a player to jump from the playing area and knock—or catch and release—the ball back before landing in touch or touch-in-goal.

A jumper may start inside or outside, catch the ball and land in the playing area. A player standing in touch may kick or knock, but not hold, a ball that has not reached the plane. These are separate tests; “the ball broke the plane” is not a complete ruling.

Control is needed only when holding the ball

World Rugby Law 21.1 gives two forms of grounding. A player may hold the ball and touch the ground with it, or press down on a loose ball with one or both hands, one or both arms, or the front of the body from waist to neck. Picking the ball up is not itself grounding.

Law 8.2 awards a try when an attacker is first to ground the ball in the opponents' in-goal. The law does not require the player to be standing, nor does it impose a separate “downward pressure” formula on a ball already held; holding it and touching it to the ground is enough.

First contact normally decides the score

If legal grounding occurs before boundary contact, the try is complete. An airborne ball-carrier may therefore ground the ball inside in-goal before landing outside; being horizontally beyond the line is not itself fatal.

If the ball or ball-carrier in possession contacts the touch-in-goal line, dead-ball line or ground beyond first, there is no try. Law 21.4 also makes the ball dead—not a try—when an attacker holding the ball grounds it while simultaneously contacting the touch-in-goal or dead-ball boundary. At the try-line corner, simultaneous contact with the ordinary touchline produces touch and an opposition lineout under Law 21.5. Touching a corner flag or its post alone does not put the ball out under Law 21.15, unless the ball is grounded against the post.

A player in touch can still ground a loose ball

There is a narrow but important exception to the usual boundary shorthand. Laws 8.2(e) and 21.9 allow a player who is outside the playing area to score a try or make a touch down by grounding the ball in in-goal, provided that player is not in possession of it.

So an attacker whose feet are in touch-in-goal may press down on a loose ball that remains in in-goal. The same player cannot carry or hold the ball while touching out and claim the exception. Possession is the decisive fact.

Momentum and one immediate reach are permitted

World Rugby Laws 8.2 and 21.7–21.8 allow a tackled player's continuous momentum to carry the player into in-goal, where the ball may be grounded. A tackled player near the try line may also reach out and ground the ball, but must do so immediately.

A defender may knock the ball backwards or pull it from that player's possession while the player is reaching, but Law 21.10 prohibits kicking or attempting to kick it. Foul play that prevents a probable try can lead to a penalty try under Law 8.3; the boundary outcome does not erase an earlier foul-play decision.

Sevens keeps the attacking five-metre scrum

A ball-carrier is held up when in in-goal but unable to ground or play the ball. The ball then becomes dead. The Sevens replacement for Law 21.16 awards a five-metre scrum in line with where the player was held up, with the attacking team throwing in.

This is a genuine code variation. The general 2026 Law 21.16 points to a restart based on how the ball entered in-goal, but the sevens text replaces that outcome. Do not import the ordinary fifteen-a-side held-up restart into a match using World Rugby's sevens laws.

The restart follows responsibility, not just location

• Attack puts the ball into in-goal; a defender makes it dead: a 22-metre drop-out under Sevens Law 12.11, except for kick-off and restart-kick cases.
• Defence plays or takes the ball into its own in-goal and makes it dead: a five-metre scrum, attacking team throw-in, under Law 19.1.
• Ball-carrier held up: a five-metre scrum to the attack under Sevens Law 21.16.
• Doubt about which team grounded first: a five-metre scrum in line with the grounding, attacking team throw-in, under Law 21.17.

Law 21.13 matters here: if a defender who has any part in in-goal catches or picks up a ball still in the field of play, that defender has taken it into in-goal.

A kick through can create a choice

Under Law 21.11, when a team kicks from the field of play through the opponents' in-goal and the ball enters touch-in-goal or reaches or crosses the dead-ball line, the defenders choose a 22-metre drop-out or a scrum where the ball was kicked. The non-kicking team throws into that scrum.

An unsuccessful penalty-goal or attempted dropped-goal kick is the exception: the restart is a 22-metre drop-out, with no scrum-at-the-kick option. The Sevens Law 21 addition requires the restart kick within 30 seconds of the unsuccessful kick at goal.

An untouched long restart gives a free-kick

Sevens Law 12.9 replaces the general options. If a kick-off or restart kick enters the opponents' in-goal without touching any player and an opponent grounds it without delay, or it goes into touch-in-goal or on or over the dead-ball line, the non-kicking team receives a free-kick.

This special outcome applies to the kick-off/restart sequence, not to every open-play kick. First identify the type of kick; then apply the correct in-goal provision.

One rare restart is awkwardly cross-referenced

The no-try result in Law 21.4 is clear when an attacker grounds while simultaneously touching the touch-in-goal or dead-ball boundary. Its general text then points to a try-line drop-out when the attack put the ball in, yet the 2026 Sevens variation deletes general Law 12.12, the main try-line drop-out trigger.

World Rugby's July 2026 PDF and live pages contain the same tension and do not publish a separate sevens replacement for Law 21.4. For that exact simultaneous-contact restart, the match organiser's appointed law set or later clarification should be checked. The certain field ruling is no try and ball dead; this page does not manufacture a universal restart from an incomplete cross-reference.

Touch in the field of play is a different branch

Ordinary touch usually restarts with a lineout or a permitted quick throw under Law 18. Sevens removes the 50:22 lineout reward and requires teams to form the lineout within 15 seconds after the assistant referee or touch judge indicates the mark.

Who throws and where depends on whether the ball was carried, kicked directly or indirectly, touched by another player, or kicked from a penalty. See lineouts in rugby sevens for that separate decision tree.

The legal test is fixed; video review is not

Referees and touch judges or assistant referees judge the line, possession, grounding and order of contact. World Rugby's Sevens variation to Law 6 also provides for in-goal judges, while a match organiser may instead appoint a television match official.

A TMO is not available merely because a decision is close. Its use and referral scope depend on the competition's appointed protocol. Without video, the referee applies the same legal tests from the available evidence; where there is doubt about which team grounded first, Law 21.17 supplies the five-metre-scrum outcome.

The airborne corner dive

Situation: an attacker jumps from the field of play, passes outside the vertical plane of touch-in-goal and grounds the held ball inside in-goal before any body part lands on or beyond the boundary.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: try. Legal grounding happened while the ball and ball-carrier had not contacted an outer boundary. Horizontal position beyond the plane is not itself touch-in-goal.

Ball down as the knee hits the line

Situation: a ball-carrier touches the ball down while the knee contacts the touch-in-goal line at the same instant.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: no try; the ball is dead under Law 21.4. The decisive fact is simultaneous boundary contact, not whether one camera angle makes the ball appear visually lower. See the text-control note above for the sevens restart cross-reference.

Feet out, hand on a loose ball

Situation: an attacker is standing in touch-in-goal and presses down on a loose ball that remains in the opponents' in-goal.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: try, provided the attacker was not holding or carrying the ball and was first to ground it. Laws 8.2(e) and 21.9 expressly permit grounding from outside the playing area when the player is not in possession.

The defender reaches back over the try line

Situation: a defender has one foot in in-goal, reaches into the field of play, picks up the ball and then grounds it in-goal.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: five-metre scrum to the attack. Law 21.13 treats the defender as having taken the ball into in-goal; Law 19.1 gives the attacking team the throw when the defence then makes it dead.

The grubber runs straight through

Situation: an attacker kicks from open play and the untouched ball rolls through the opponents' in-goal over the dead-ball line.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: the defenders choose a 22-metre drop-out or a scrum at the place of the kick, with the non-kicking team throwing in. Law 21.11 controls because this was an open-play kick through, not a kick-off or restart kick.

How to resolve a boundary call

1. Name the ruleset: confirm World Rugby sevens and any appointed competition variation.
2. Locate the ball: field of play, in-goal, ordinary touch, touch-in-goal, or dead-ball boundary.
3. Check possession: was the player holding the ball, or pressing a loose ball?
4. Order the contacts: legal grounding, boundary contact and any foul play.
5. Identify responsibility: which team played or took the ball into in-goal, and who made it dead?
6. Classify the kick: open play, goal attempt, kick-off or score restart.
7. Apply the sevens variation: especially held-up, 22-metre drop-out, free-kick and lineout-timing provisions.

Six shortcuts that give the wrong answer

• “The try line is out”: it belongs to in-goal, so grounding on it can score.
• “Breaking the plane makes it touch”: Law 18 requires the appropriate contact and has express airborne-player exceptions.
• “A player in touch can never score”: a player not in possession may ground a loose ball in in-goal.
• “Downward pressure is always required”: a player holding the ball may ground it by touching it to the ground.
• “Every dead ball behind the line is a drop-out”: the outcome can be a try, 22-metre drop-out, five-metre scrum, free-kick, lineout or kick/scrum option.
• “Held up works as in fifteens”: Sevens Law 21.16 gives the attack a five-metre scrum.

World Rugby 2026 source material

• World Rugby — Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, July 2026 edition — definitions; Laws 8, 12, 18, 19 and 21; Sevens variations on law-book pages 122–133.
• World Rugby Passport — Laws update, 1 July 2026 — implementation notice for the Council-approved changes in the current law assets.
• World Rugby 2026 Definitions — field of play, in-goal, playing area, plane of touch, touch and touch-in-goal.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 6: Match officials — in-goal judges and the TMO exception.
• World Rugby Law 8: Scoring — try situations and penalty tries.
• World Rugby Law 18: Touch, quick throw and lineout — boundary, plane-of-touch and airborne-player tests.
• World Rugby Law 19.1: Scrum restart table — defender-taken in-goal and kicked-dead scrum outcomes.
• World Rugby Law 21: In-goal — grounding, simultaneous contact, kicked-dead options, player location and doubt about grounding.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 12: Kick-off and restart kicks — free-kick and 22-metre-drop-out replacements; deletion of general Law 12.12.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 18: Touch and lineout — no 50:22 reward and 15-second formation period.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 21: In-goal — 30-second restart after an unsuccessful goal kick and five-metre attacking scrum when held up.

Source note: checked against World Rugby's July 2026 law book and live Passport law pages on 27 August 2026. Competition regulations may supplement the baseline. The Law 21.4/Sevens Law 12.12 cross-reference issue is retained above because the current official sources do not resolve it.