After a score, the scoring team restarts.

Scope and implementation date

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game 2026, updated on 1 July 2026, principally the general Law 12 together with the Sevens variations to Laws 12, 20 and 21. It covers World Rugby’s standard seven-a-side form, not rugby league, touch rugby, age-grade modifications or an organiser’s modified festival rules.

World Rugby’s July 2026 implementation notice says the changes apply to new competitions or events starting after 1 July. A league or tournament already in progress may use a different implementation date set by its union. Check the appointed competition regulations when a match crosses that boundary.

Kick-off, restart and free-kick are not synonyms

A kick-off starts a half or a period of extra time. A restart kick resumes play after a score or through a drop-out. Both use a drop-kick: the player intentionally drops the ball and kicks it as it rises from its first bounce.

A free-kick is a sanction for an infringement, not a Law 12 restart kick. That distinction matters because the halfway restart must be a drop-kick, while a sevens free-kick may be punted or drop-kicked under Sevens Law 20.8.

Start, half-time and after points

• Start of the match: the pre-match toss determines who kicks off or chooses an end.
• Second half: under Law 12.3, the opponents of the team that kicked off the match kick off the second half.
• After a score: Sevens Law 12.4 reverses the ordinary fifteen-a-side rule: the team that scored restarts.
• Extra time: a fresh toss precedes extra time; its first period begins with a kick-off, unless the competition does not require extra time.

The post-score countdown has a defined start

After a try, the restart must be taken within 30 seconds from the time the conversion is taken or declined. After a penalty goal or dropped goal, the 30 seconds runs from the time the goal is kicked. These are the triggers stated in Sevens Law 12.4—not the referee returning to halfway or the ball reaching the kicker.

Failure to take that restart in time is a free-kick to the non-kicking team. Whether a restart is still required near the end of a half is a separate Law 5 question; a late try does not by itself guarantee another restart.

Five checks at halfway

1. The kick is a drop-kick, not a punt or place-kick.
2. It is taken on or behind the centre of the halfway line.
3. Every team-mate of the kicker is behind the ball when it is kicked.
4. The receiving team is on or behind its 10-metre line.
5. The ball reaches that 10-metre line, unless an opponent intentionally plays it first.

Foul play during the aerial contest remains foul play. A technically correct restart does not permit a chaser to take a receiver in the air, obstruct an opponent or otherwise breach Law 9.

Judge the ball, then ask who played it

The ball must reach the receiving team’s 10-metre line. It does not have to land beyond the line: reaching the line in the air is enough. If it reaches the line and the wind then carries it back, Law 12.7 says play continues.

If a receiving player intentionally plays the ball before it reaches 10 metres, play also continues. The receivers have made the short ball live; they cannot play it and then demand the free-kick. By contrast, a kicking-team chaser who plays a still-short ball has not cured the failure to reach 10 metres.

Not every faulty restart is a free-kick

• Not a drop-kick (Law 12.1): the non-kicking team chooses a retake or a scrum.
• Wrong halfway location (Law 12.2): the non-kicking team chooses a retake or a scrum.
• Receiver in front of the 10-metre line (Law 12.5b): the kick is retaken.
• More than 30 seconds after a score (Sevens 12.4): free-kick.
• Kicker’s team-mate in front of the ball (Sevens 12.5a): free-kick.
• Ball fails to reach 10 metres (Sevens 12.6): free-kick, unless Law 12.7 makes play continue.
• Ball goes directly into touch (Sevens 12.8): free-kick.

“Directly into touch” has a narrow meaning

A restart is direct to touch when it reaches touch without first landing in the playing area or touching a player or the referee. In sevens, Sevens Law 12.8 awards the non-kicking team a free-kick; the four-option fifteen-a-side outcome has been replaced.

If the ball first bounces in the field of play or touches a player and then goes into touch, it was not kicked directly into touch. Apply the ordinary touch and lineout law to where and how it crossed the touchline.

The immediate grounding is a free-kick outcome

Under Sevens Law 12.9, if the halfway kick enters the opponents’ in-goal without touching any player, the non-kicking team receives a free-kick when a defender grounds it without delay, or when it goes into touch-in-goal or on or over the dead-ball line.

The decisive facts are that the kick was untouched and was made dead immediately or went dead by itself. If a defender chooses to play the ball instead, later events are judged by who subsequently played or took the ball into in-goal; the original kick does not create a permanent free-kick entitlement.

Current sevens has no try-line drop-out

The July 2026 Sevens variations replace Law 12.11 and delete Law 12.12. Therefore the general-law try-line drop-out is not the sevens outcome under this page’s ruleset. When an attacking player plays or takes the ball into in-goal and an opponent makes it dead—apart from the special kick-off or restart case above—Sevens Law 12.11 gives a 22-metre drop-out.

If the defending team itself plays or takes the ball into its in-goal and makes it dead, Law 19.1 instead gives the attacking team a five-metre scrum. If an attacking ball-carrier is held up, Sevens Law 21.16 also gives the attacking team a five-metre scrum. “The ball died in-goal” is not enough information to choose the restart.

A drop-out has its own tests

A 22-metre drop-out is taken on or behind the defending team’s 22-metre line and must cross that line. It must be taken without delay, opponents must remain behind the 22 until the kick, and the kicker’s team-mates must be behind the ball. The unchanged general rules in Law 12.13–19 govern these mechanics.

Sevens adds a 30-second limit when the restart follows an unsuccessful kick at goal. A drop-out that goes directly into touch, fails to cross its sanction line or reaches the far in-goal untouched has the option-based outcomes in Law 12.13 or 12.18; the special sevens free-kick sanctions for halfway restarts do not automatically carry over to a 22-metre drop-out.

What the receiving team may do

A Law 12 free-kick is taken from the mark set under Law 20—normally at halfway for these halfway-restart infringements—and may be taken quickly once the mark and player obligations are satisfied. In sevens it may be punted or drop-kicked, but not place-kicked.

Since the 2024 change now reflected in Law 20.3, a team awarded a free-kick cannot simply choose a scrum; only a team awarded a penalty has that general option. A direct free-kick to touch also follows free-kick touch law, not the territorial and throw-in benefit of a penalty. Law 8.29 prevents an immediate dropped goal until the ball next becomes dead or an opponent plays or touches it or tackles the ball-carrier.

Play-on and advantage are different routes

When a receiver plays a kick before it travels 10 metres, or the ball reaches the line and is blown back, Law 12.7 itself says play continues. The referee is not playing advantage from a failed restart.

For an actual infringement, Law 7 allows advantage only when the non-offending team obtains a clear and real tactical or territorial benefit. No advantage can be played after the ball has become dead, so a direct kick to touch or dead through in-goal is brought back for its stated sanction.

Intent can turn a technical error into a penalty

World Rugby Clarification 2-2025 distinguishes an accidental restart failure from an intentional violation. If match officials believe a team deliberately sends players ahead or deliberately kicks short to exploit the technical sanction, Law 9.7(a) on intentional infringement applies and the referee awards a penalty.

This is an officials’ judgment about intent, not an automatic upgrade whenever a kick is badly executed. The ordinary Sevens Law 12 free-kick remains the outcome for an unintentional early chaser or short kick.

A receiver catches at eight metres

Situation: under the July 2026 World Rugby Sevens laws, Blue’s restart is dropping short. A Red player reaches forward and intentionally catches it eight metres from halfway.

Ruling: play on. General Law 12.7 applies because an opponent played the ball before it reached the 10-metre line. Red’s action, not eventual possession, is the decisive fact.

A punt is taken from the correct mark

Situation: Gold restarts after scoring within 30 seconds and from halfway, but punts the ball before it hits the ground.

Ruling: the non-kicking team chooses a retake or a scrum. Law 12.1 requires a drop-kick, and the sevens variations do not replace that sanction. It is not one of the restart faults that automatically produces a free-kick.

The ball crosses 10 metres, then blows back

Situation: the ball passes the plane of the 10-metre line in the air, a strong wind brings it back toward halfway, and an onside kicker’s team-mate gathers it.

Ruling: play on. Law 12.7 treats the distance requirement as satisfied once the ball reaches the line. Its later position does not make the kick short.

A defender is held up in the wrong in-goal

Situation: Red catches the restart in the field of play, carries it back into Red’s own in-goal and is prevented from grounding or playing it.

Ruling: five-metre scrum to Blue, the attacking team. Red took the ball into its own in-goal; Sevens Law 21.16 and the Law 19.1 in-goal scrum rule apply. This is not a 22-metre drop-out and sevens does not use a try-line drop-out here.

Resolve the restart in order

1. Name the competition and confirm that it has implemented the July 2026 World Rugby laws.
2. Identify the event: start of a period, score, unsuccessful goal attempt or another in-goal outcome.
3. Identify the correct team and, after a score, the 30-second trigger.
4. For a halfway kick, check method, mark, both teams’ positions and the 10-metre line.
5. Then check direct touch, untouched in-goal and any foul play in the contest.
6. Apply the precise outcome: play on, retake, scrum, free-kick, penalty, 22-metre drop-out or five-metre scrum.

Five shortcuts that fail

• “The team that conceded restarts”: not after a score in sevens; the scoring team restarts.
• “Every restart error is a free-kick”: wrong method, wrong place and receiving-team encroachment have other sanctions.
• “The ball must land 10 metres away”: it must reach the line; landing beyond it is not required.
• “A free-kick can be exchanged for a scrum”: that general option now belongs to penalties, not free-kicks.
• “Sevens uses a try-line drop-out when attack is held up”: the July 2026 sevens variations delete that restart and specify a five-metre scrum for a held-up carrier.

Do not import the sevens table into another code

The sevens variation deliberately replaces selected parts of Law 12. Fifteen-a-side union keeps different post-score responsibility and option-based sanctions; rugby league and modified forms use different rules entirely. Local age-grade or social sevens may also adopt union-approved modifications.

This page therefore states the World Rugby baseline and its implementation date. If an event handbook modifies the restart method or uses an older law implementation date, name that competition rule rather than treating it as a universal sevens exception.

World Rugby 2026 source material

• World Rugby, Laws of the Game 2026, July 2026 edition — controlling general laws and full Sevens variations (Sevens variation pages 123–133).
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 12: Kick-off and restart kicks — scoring-team restart, 30 seconds, sevens sanctions and 22-metre drop-out replacement.
• World Rugby Law 12: Kick-off and restart kicks — general method, mark, player positions, 10-metre exceptions and drop-out mechanics.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 21: In-goal — 30-second post-goal-attempt restart and held-up five-metre scrum.
• World Rugby Law 19.1: Scrum restart table — five-metre scrum when the defending team takes the ball into in-goal and makes it dead.
• World Rugby Law 20: Penalty and free-kick and Sevens Law 20.8 variation — free-kick location, options and permitted kick types.
• World Rugby Clarification 2-2025, Laws 12 and 9, 17 July 2025 — deliberate short or overrun restart actions as intentional infringement.
• World Rugby, 2026-07 Law updates — 1 July 2026 law update and implementation guidance for new and continuing competitions.

Source note: checked against the July 2026 law book, live World Rugby law pages and the post-book implementation notice on 27 August 2026. Competition and union regulations may set a later implementation date for an event already in progress or add approved local variations.