A standard sevens match has two seven-minute halves, but the legal end of a half depends on what is happening when time expires. A live attack can continue, an awarded penalty may still be used, and a late try can create a conversion and sometimes a restart.
Quick ruling: under the 2026 World Rugby Sevens variations, an ordinary match lasts 14 minutes plus time lost, half-time is no longer than two minutes, and extra time uses periods of no more than five minutes with the first score winning.
Effective rules
Which clock this page applies
This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game 2026, principally Law 5 on time together with the Sevens variations to Laws 5, 8 and 12. It covers the standard World Rugby form of seven-a-side rugby.
A tournament handbook can decide whether a drawn pool match remains a draw, whether a final uses the longer permitted format, and how its central timekeeper operates. Those competition decisions sit on top of the World Rugby limits; they do not turn every sevens final into a 20-minute match.
At a glance
The four numbers to remember
7 minutes: maximum length of each half in a standard match, plus time lost.
2 minutes: maximum half-time interval.
10 minutes: maximum half length a competition final may use; the ordinary final does not automatically use it.
5 minutes: maximum length of each extra-time period after a one-minute break.
Ordinary match
Fourteen minutes plus time lost
World Rugby Sevens Law 5.1 replaces the 80-minute fifteens rule with a 14-minute match: two halves of no more than seven minutes, plus time lost. The referee keeps time or delegates it to an appointed timekeeper and signals any stoppage.
“Seven minutes” therefore describes scheduled playing time, not a guarantee that the referee will whistle at exactly 7:00 on a public display. Time may have been stopped, and play may still be legally alive after the clock has reached the scheduled end.
Competition final
Ten-minute halves are permitted, not required
The 2026 Sevens variation permits a competition final to last no longer than 20 minutes, split into halves of no more than 10 minutes, plus time lost and any extra time. The word may matters: the tournament regulations must actually choose the longer final.
Do not assume a medal match, cup final or local tournament final uses 10-minute halves merely because World Rugby allows them. Check the published event format before applying the longer maximum.
Half-time
The interval cannot exceed two minutes
Sevens Law 5.2 replaces the ordinary 15-minute maximum with an interval of no more than two minutes. Teams change ends, receive rapid instructions and prepare for the next kick-off.
Half-time is an interval, not match time. That distinction matters when a two-minute yellow-card suspension crosses half-time: only the relevant match time counts toward the suspension.
Extra time
Five-minute periods and golden point
When a drawn match is required to produce a winner, the teams have a one-minute break before extra time. The referee conducts another toss. Extra-time periods last no more than five minutes; after a completed period the teams change ends without an interval.
World Rugby Sevens Law 8.30 makes extra time golden point: the first team to score any points is immediately declared the winner. A try, penalty goal or dropped goal ends the match; there is no need to complete the period.
Time expired
The hooter marks a time, not necessarily a stoppage
World Rugby Law 5.7 says a half ends when the ball next becomes dead after time has expired, subject to listed continuations. If the ball is live at 7:00, the team in possession may keep playing until touch, a score, a lawful grounding, an infringement that ends the sequence, or another event makes the ball dead.
The referee—not the stadium graphic or commentary team—decides when the legal passage is complete and blows the whistle to end the half.
Mandatory continuation
Some awards must still be completed
Time expiring does not cancel a scrum, lineout or restart kick awarded before time expired if it has not been completed and the ball has not returned to open play. The continuation includes an incorrectly taken lineout or restart that has not legally put the ball into open play.
The half also continues when the referee awards a penalty or free-kick, when a penalty is kicked into touch without first being tapped, when a try requires its conversion, or when a player-safety stoppage must restart with a scrum.
Late try
Conversion, decline and restart are separate questions
A try scored after time has expired still allows the conversion. In sevens the conversion must be a drop kick and must be taken within 30 seconds of the try; otherwise it is disallowed.
If the conversion is attempted or formally declined before time expires, Law 5.8 awards a restart kick. In sevens the scoring team takes that restart, normally within 30 seconds of the conversion or decline. If time had already expired before the conversion decision, there is no automatic additional restart merely because the try was scored.
Other shot clocks
Thirty seconds is built into several restarts
A conversion drop kick must be taken within 30 seconds of the try.
A penalty goal attempt must be taken within 30 seconds after the intention is indicated.
The scoring team must take the restart within 30 seconds after a conversion is taken or declined, or after a penalty or dropped goal.
Under the Sevens variations, teams form a lineout or become ready for a scrum within 15 seconds of the relevant mark.
These limits come from the 2026 Sevens variations; a broadcast countdown is an aid, while the referee and appointed timekeeper administer the law.
Worked case 1
The ball is live at 7:00
Situation: Blue carries through three phases after the clock reaches 7:00. A later pass goes directly into touch with no penalty advantage.
Ruling: the referee ends the half when the ball goes into touch. The clock reaching 7:00 did not itself kill the live ball; touch supplied the next dead-ball event under World Rugby Law 5.
Worked case 2
A penalty is awarded before the hooter
Situation: Red receives a penalty at 6:58 and kicks to touch after time expires.
Ruling: time is extended for the penalty and resulting lineout. The half does not end merely because the kick reaches touch; Law 5.7 preserves the penalty-to-touch sequence. Play continues until the required restart has been completed and the ball later becomes dead.
Worked case 3
A conversion is struck with time left
Situation: Gold scores at 6:43 and strikes the conversion at 6:57.
Ruling: because the conversion was attempted before time elapsed, the referee awards a restart. Gold—the team that scored—takes the sevens restart. The match then ends at the next lawful end point unless another continuation applies.
Worked case 4
A penalty goal lands in extra time
Situation: a team kicks a penalty goal two minutes into the first extra-time period.
Ruling: the match ends immediately. World Rugby Sevens Law 8.30 awards the match to the first team to score any points in extra time; there is no restart and no need to play out five minutes.
Decision path
How to resolve any sevens clock dispute
Name the competition and confirm whether it uses standard halves or the permitted longer final.
Record the official clock and whether the referee had called time off.
At time expiry, decide whether the ball was live or already dead.
Check whether Law 5.7 preserves a scrum, lineout, restart, penalty, free-kick, conversion or safety restart.
If a try occurred, separate conversion timing from entitlement to a further restart.
If the match is tied, check whether the event requires a winner and then apply golden-point extra time.
Common mistakes
Four shortcuts that produce the wrong answer
“The clock says 7:00, so it is over”: not while the ball remains live or a listed continuation applies.
“Every final has 10-minute halves”: World Rugby permits that maximum; the competition must adopt it.
“A late try always guarantees a restart”: restart entitlement depends on when the conversion was attempted or declined.
“Extra time means finishing five minutes”: the first score ends extra time immediately.
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