Legal kit must pass both the specification and the referee's safety test.

Which matches this page covers

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game 2026, principally Law 4, together with World Rugby Regulation 12 and its equipment performance specifications. World Rugby's Sevens variations say the ordinary laws apply except where listed; they contain no variation to Law 4.

The sources were checked on 28 August 2026, including World Rugby's July 2026 update. Those July changes apply to new competitions or events starting after 1 July; a competition already in progress may use its union's stated implementation date. Tournament uniform, colour, numbering and registration rules may supplement this page, so the appointed competition regulations still matter.

What Law 4 says a player wears

Law 4.2 names a jersey, shorts and underwear, socks and boots. A jersey sleeve must reach at least halfway from the point of the shoulder to the elbow. The law does not relax that requirement for the shorter sevens format.

That list is the standard playing clothing, not permission to attach any accessory to it. Law 4.1 separately requires all clothing to comply with Regulation 12, and Law 4.4 allows the referee to reject even a normally permitted item if it is liable to cause injury.

Four checks decide whether an item is legal

1. Is it standard clothing or an extra listed in Law 4.3? If neither, do not assume it is allowed.
2. Does Regulation 12 or a linked performance specification impose a design, material, size or approval requirement? The item must meet it.
3. Is the actual item safe today? Wear, breakage, a hard edge or poor fitting can make an otherwise legal product dangerous.
4. Has the referee required removal? If so, the player stays out until the item is removed or rendered harmless.

The Law 4.3 list is specific

Permitted additions include washable elasticated or compressible supports; shin guards; limited ankle supports; fingerless mitts; shoulder pads or approved chest pads; a mouthguard; headgear; bandages, dressings and thin tape; goggles; studs; specified long tights or leggings; safe headscarves or coverings; and player monitoring devices.

Some entries have exact boundaries. An ankle support must be under the sock, no higher than one third of the shin and, if rigid, non-metal. Long tights or leggings must be a cotton blend, have a single inside-leg seam and be worn under the shorts and socks. A head covering must not endanger its wearer or anyone else.

“Permitted” does not mean any design will do

Regulation 12 adds measurable controls. Shin guards must be under the socks, use padding in non-rigid fabric and have no padding thicker than 5 mm uncompressed. Fingerless mitts may cover the fingers and thumbs only to the outer joint, must not extend beyond the wrist, and may use soft grip material no deeper than 1 mm.

Body padding, headgear, goggles and player monitoring devices must comply with their World Rugby performance specifications. Where approval is required, the World Rugby Approved mark and the authority's current compliant-equipment list are better evidence than a shop description or a product's use in an earlier match.

Recommended internationally, not universally compulsory

The current live World Rugby Law 4 recommends that all players wear a mouthguard or dental protector, and Law 4.3(f) permits one. It does not make a mouthguard compulsory under the international baseline described on this page.

There is a small source difference worth making explicit: the live Law 4 page contains the recommendation, while the downloadable Laws of the Game 2026 PDF omits that sentence. Both sources still place a mouthguard in the permitted-additional-item list. A union, school, age-grade programme or tournament may impose a separate requirement; check that competition's current rules rather than treating the World Rugby recommendation as the whole answer.

A compliant design can still fail the match-day check

Law 4 permits studs, including moulded-rubber studs, only within Regulation 12. World Rugby's Studs and Outsoles Performance Specification says studs or cleats must not exceed 21 mm and must have no burring or sharp edges. Its design assessment also considers shape, hardness, edge radius, wear and the risk of internal material becoming exposed.

Law 6.4 requires match officials to inspect clothing and studs before the match. The outsole specification expressly preserves the referee's power to overrule a test result, so “it was legal when sold” is not an answer to a worn, broken or sharpened stud on match day.

Approved padding is limited rugby equipment, not armour

World Rugby's Body Padding Performance Specification limits body padding, including fabric on each side, to 12 mm uncompressed and controls its hardness, coverage, finish and retention. It describes compliant padding as intended to protect against cuts and abrasions, not as equipment that removes the normal risks of contact.

The headgear specification is equally careful: compliant headgear is intended for cuts and abrasions and is not intended or expected to protect against mild traumatic brain injury or skull fracture. Law 4.4(f) separately bans shorts or leggings with padding sewn into them; that ban should not be confused with compliant torso padding secured in the way the body-padding specification allows.

A legal PMD is not a licence for communications

Law 4.3(m) permits player monitoring devices, and Regulation 12 gives GPS units and instrumented mouthguards as examples. The performance specification defines a PMD as a worn device capable of determining live or recorded movement or physical-performance data, and requires approved devices to display the World Rugby Approved logo.

Law 4.4(h) separately bans communication devices. A consumer watch or tracker does not become legal merely because it records fitness data: to use the PMD allowance, the worn device must comply with the World Rugby specification and must not fall within the communication-device ban.

Jewellery, ordinary gloves and dangerous fittings stay out

Law 4.4 prohibits blood-contaminated items; anything sharp or abrasive; jewellery; gloves; padded shorts or leggings; and communication devices. It also bans buckles, clips, rings, hinges, zippers, screws, bolts, rigid material or projections unless Law 4 otherwise permits them.

Taping over an earring or ring does not change the fact that it is jewellery. Fingerless mitts are the listed exception to the glove ban, but only if they meet Regulation 12. Likewise, a permitted brace, dressing or head covering can still be rejected when its condition, fit or construction makes it liable to injure a player.

Removal is not automatically a penalty or red card

Under Law 4.5, the referee may decide at any time that clothing is dangerous or illegal, order the item removed, and keep the player from participating until it is removed or rendered harmless. The law does not attach an automatic penalty or sending off to every first discovery under this paragraph.

The practical result is player ineligibility until the defect is fixed. That is different from a temporary suspension or sending off: the team is not being disciplined merely because the player is held from play while a newly discovered unsafe item is corrected. Law 4 supplies no separate coach's challenge or equipment-video-review procedure; the match officials judge conformity and safety.

A specific pre-match warning creates the severe outcome

Law 4.6 applies when a match official identifies a banned item during the pre-match inspection, tells the player, and that player is later found wearing it in the playing area. All of those facts matter.

In that case the player is sent off for misconduct and the sanction is a penalty. This is not the same as an item unexpectedly breaking during play, or an official first noticing an item after kick-off; those situations begin with the Law 4.5 removal process unless some separate infringement applies.

Contaminated clothing and a blood injury are separate tests

Law 4.4(a) says a player may not wear an item contaminated by blood. Law 4.7 makes bloodstained clothing the exception to the rule that a referee must not allow a player to leave the playing area to change clothing. The contaminated item must be replaced before the player participates in it again.

A bloodstained jersey does not by itself prove entitlement to a temporary replacement. That entitlement comes from Law 3.25 when the player has a blood injury: the player leaves, may be temporarily replaced and returns once bleeding is controlled and/or covered; after 15 minutes of actual time the replacement becomes permanent. The Sevens variations do not replace Law 3.25.

A stud becomes sharp during play

Situation: a player's replaceable stud complied before kick-off but breaks and exposes a sharp edge during the first half.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: the referee orders the boot or stud removed or rendered harmless, and the player cannot participate until that happens. The decisive fact is the item's present danger under Laws 4.4(g) and 4.5, not its earlier inspection or retail approval.

An earring is covered with tape

Situation: a player tapes over an earring so it has no exposed point.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: the player must remove it before participating. Law 4.4(d) bans jewellery itself; tape may cover an edge but does not convert jewellery into a permitted item.

A warned player puts the item back on

Situation: during the compulsory pre-match check, an official tells a player to remove a prohibited bracelet. The same player is later found wearing it in the playing area.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: Law 4.6 requires the player to be sent off for misconduct and awards a penalty. The decisive facts are the specific pre-match notice and later use in the playing area.

A jersey is bloodstained but the player is uninjured

Situation: blood from another player gets onto a jersey, but the wearer has no blood injury.

Ruling under World Rugby 2026: the contaminated jersey cannot be worn, and the referee may allow the player to leave to change it. Law 3.25's temporary-replacement entitlement is tied to the player having a blood injury, so contamination alone does not establish that entitlement.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong answer

• “Sevens has looser kit rules”: no Law 4 variation exists for sevens.
• “Soft means legal”: specified padding and other controlled products still have to satisfy Regulation 12.
• “An approval mark ends the inquiry”: the referee can reject an approved type when the actual item is damaged or dangerous.
• “All kit violations are penalties”: ordinary discovery triggers removal; the express penalty and sending off in Law 4.6 require an ignored pre-match warning.
• “World Rugby makes mouthguards mandatory everywhere”: its baseline recommends and permits them; a separate competition rule may go further.

What a player or official should verify

1. Identify the competition and any additional uniform or mouthguard rule.
2. Check the standard clothing and jersey-sleeve length.
3. Match every extra item to Law 4.3 and its Regulation 12 specification.
4. Inspect studs, edges, fasteners, jewellery and the condition of approved equipment.
5. Remove or make harmless anything the referee rules illegal or dangerous.
6. If blood is present, distinguish contaminated clothing from a blood injury and apply Laws 4 and 3 accordingly.

World Rugby 2026 source material

• World Rugby, Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026 — Law 4 on pages 37–38; Law 3.25 on page 35; Law 6.4 on page 41.
• World Rugby live Law 4: Permitted clothing — standard clothing, permitted additions, banned items and enforcement; includes the current mouthguard recommendation.
• World Rugby Regulation 12: Provisions relating to players' dress — specifications for additional clothing, studs and banned material.
• World Rugby 2026 Sevens variations — confirms that ordinary laws apply subject to the listed variations; no Law 4 variation is listed.
• World Rugby Body Padding Performance Specification — approval, thickness, hardness, coverage and intended protection.
• World Rugby Headgear Performance Specification — approval and limits of intended protection.
• World Rugby Player Monitoring Devices Performance Specification — device definition, testing and approved marking.
• World Rugby Studs and Outsoles Performance Specification — 21 mm maximum, condition and referee override.
• World Rugby July 2026 law updates — effective-date notice for competitions starting after 1 July 2026 and mid-competition implementation warning.

Source note: checked against the 2026 law book, live Law 4, Regulation 12, the Sevens variation index and the July 2026 implementation notice on 28 August 2026. Union, age-grade and tournament regulations may add uniform or safety requirements; they should be read alongside this World Rugby baseline.