Seven may play; five more may be named for the match.

Which form of sevens this page covers

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game 2026, using the law assets updated on 1 July 2026: the ordinary rugby union laws together with the Sevens variations. The controlling provisions are Sevens Law 3 on the team and, for the three-player scrum, Sevens Law 19.

It is the World Rugby baseline, not a universal tournament entry rule. A national union, age-grade organiser or competition can set eligibility, event-squad, minimum-start and team-sheet procedures. Law 3.5 also lets a non-international match organiser choose fewer than five nominated replacements, while five remains the World Rugby Sevens maximum.

Do not collapse these counts

• Seven: the maximum number from one team in the playing area during play (Sevens Law 3.1).
• Five: the maximum replacements a team may nominate and use under Sevens Laws 3.4-3.5.
• Twelve: the resulting maximum match list when seven players start and five replacements are named; it is not automatically the event-squad limit.
• Three: the players from each team who must form and remain bound in a sevens scrum (Sevens Law 19.5).

The law states a maximum, not an eighth-player option

Sevens Law 3.1 replaces the 15-a-side number with “no more than seven” in the playing area during play. A team may become six or fewer because of a suspension, sending off, injury or an unavailable replacement; the bench cannot simply fill the carded player's place.

World Rugby's Sevens variation deletes ordinary Law 3.2 rather than supplying one worldwide minimum number for starting or continuing. Whether a competition will delay, forfeit or abandon a match when a team cannot field enough players is therefore a matter for its regulations and match officials. The law page should not be read as a promise that every event will let a short team start.

“Twelve-player squad” needs a label

Seven starters plus five nominated replacements gives a maximum of 12 names available for one match under the World Rugby baseline. That is the useful answer to “how many can take part in this game?” It does not by itself decide how many athletes a country or club may register for an entire tournament.

Competition regulations control the wider questions: squad registration, travelling reserves, injury replacement between matches, submission deadlines and eligibility. A player registered for the event is not necessarily on the match list, and an unused match replacement has still occupied one of the five nominated places. Check the appointed event handbook rather than carrying a squad number from another sevens series, Olympic event or local festival.

Three forwards and four backs is a convention

Coaches and broadcasts commonly group the starting seven as three forwards and four backs. Typical labels include prop and hooker among the three scrum players, with scrum-half, playmaker or fly-half, centre, wing and sweeper used outside them. Those labels describe selection and tactics; they do not reserve patches of open field for particular shirt numbers.

The precise legal test at a scrum is simpler. Sevens Law 19.5 requires exactly three players from each team in the scrum and requires all three to stay bound until it ends. The Sevens variation deletes the ordinary Law 3 front-row squad and replacement provisions and replaces the ordinary eight-player formation wording. It does not require a sevens team sheet to designate two props and a hooker in the same way as fifteens.

A usual position is not a limit on what a player may do

A player normally selected as a wing may pack in the three-player scrum; a usual scrum player may pass from the base or defend in the backfield. Legality turns on the law for the phase—binding at the scrum, offside lines, entry at the tackle and so on—not the player's roster label.

Shirt numbers are also a poor universal position chart. A competition may regulate numbering, but the World Rugby playing laws do not attach a fixed sevens position to each number. This is why two teams can use different role names and still satisfy exactly the same team-size law.

Dead ball and permission come first

Ordinary Law 3.6 continues to apply in sevens: replacements are made only when the ball is dead and only with the referee's permission. A penalty or free-kick does not necessarily create time for a change if the entitled team takes it quickly; the replacement waits until officials permit entry.

If a replacement or returning player enters without permission and the referee believes it was done to gain an advantage, Law 3.7 treats that as misconduct and the sanction is a penalty. That is distinct from an administrative delay or an official refusing an attempted change before the player has entered.

A tactical replacement normally stays replaced

“Use up to five replacements” does not mean unlimited rotation among 12 players. Under Law 3.33, as modified for sevens, a tactically replaced player may return only for a remaining listed exception: to replace a player with a blood injury, a player with a head injury, or a player just injured by foul play verified by the match officials. Elite rugby also has the qualifying-red-card route explained below.

Law 3.34 separately allows a match organiser to implement rolling tactical replacements at defined levels within its jurisdiction, with no more than 12 interchanges and procedures set by that organiser. That local option applies only when it has actually been adopted; it is not the default World Rugby Sevens substitution system.

Temporary cover is different from a tactical change

The ordinary temporary-replacement provisions that Sevens Law 3 does not replace or delete still apply. A player with a blood injury may be temporarily replaced; if that player is not ready to return within 15 minutes of actual time, the replacement becomes permanent (Law 3.25). In a match approved in advance to use the Head Injury Assessment process, a player requiring an HIA is temporarily replaced even if all replacements have been used; the assessment window is 12 minutes of actual time under Law 3.27.

Suspected concussion is not a temporary tactical opportunity: Law 3.24 requires immediate and permanent removal under “Recognise and Remove.” Medical clearance, the applicable return window and the status of the temporary replacement determine who may come back—not the coach's wish to rotate players.

Removal and replacement are separate decisions

A yellow card suspends a sevens player for two minutes under Sevens Law 9.29. The team plays short; it cannot erase the suspension by sending on a bench player for the suspended player.

A red-carded player never returns. Under 2026 Law 3.33(f), elite rugby may replace a teammate who received a qualifying red card after 20 minutes of playing time; a permanent red card is not replaceable. In an ordinary 14-minute sevens match the 20-minute point normally cannot be reached, so the practical in-match effect is usually that the team remains short. The competition's adopted process and the officials' red-card classification control the exceptional case.

An objection does not rewind the score

If an opponent objects that a team has too many players, Law 3.3 requires the referee to order that captain to reduce the number. The score at the time of the objection remains unchanged and the sanction is a penalty. The law does not retrospectively cancel points merely because the eighth player was discovered later.

This route is different from Law 3.7's unauthorised-entry misconduct test. For the latter, the referee must believe the player entered without permission to gain an advantage. Officials should first identify whether the problem is the total on-field count, entry without permission, or both, then apply the matching provision.

How to resolve a sevens team-list question

1. Name the competition, age grade and national union, then check whether it supplements the World Rugby Sevens laws.
2. Separate the event registration list from the players nominated for this match.
3. Count the players in the playing area: World Rugby's ceiling during play is seven.
4. For a change, confirm the player is on the match list, the ball is dead and permission has been given.
5. Classify the change as tactical, permanent injury, temporary blood/HIA or a competition-authorised rolling interchange.
6. For a return, identify the exact Law 3.33 exception; do not assume a tactically replaced player may rotate back.
7. At a scrum, count three bound players per team; ignore their usual open-play labels.

The usual wing packs into the scrum

Situation: under the July 2026 World Rugby Sevens laws, a team's usual wing joins two usual forwards in the scrum while three teammates and the scrum-half remain outside.

Ruling: the player's usual label does not make that illegal. Sevens Law 19.5 asks whether three players from each team form the scrum and stay bound until it ends; it does not test the roster title “wing,” “prop” or “hooker.”

A tactical replacement tries to return

Situation: Blue tactically replaces a player in the first half. With no blood injury, head injury, verified foul-play injury or applicable qualifying-red-card replacement, Blue asks to return that player late in the match.

Ruling: refuse the return under 2026 Law 3.33 unless this competition has expressly adopted rolling replacements under Law 3.34. Being one of the original seven does not create a general right of re-entry.

All five replacements have been used before an HIA

Situation: in a World Rugby-approved HIA match, Red has already used its five nominated replacements when another player is sent for an HIA.

Ruling: Law 3.27 permits a temporary replacement even though all replacements have been used. This is medical cover, not a sixth ordinary tactical replacement. The 12-minute actual-time window and medical outcome decide whether the original player returns or the change becomes permanent.

An eighth player is discovered after a score

Situation: the non-offending captain objects after officials discover eight opponents in the playing area.

Ruling: under World Rugby Laws 3.1 and 3.3, the referee reduces the offending team to the lawful number and awards the penalty. The score standing when the objection is made remains unchanged; the law does not order a retrospective cancellation.

Five shortcuts that change the answer

• “A sevens squad is always 12”: 12 is the usual maximum match list under the World Rugby baseline, not a universal event-registration limit.
• “Five replacements means five rolling interchanges”: ordinary tactical changes do not carry a general right of return.
• “The laws require two named props and a hooker”: those are familiar role labels, but Sevens Law 19.5 legally requires three bound scrum players.
• “The bench can replace a yellow-carded player”: the team plays short during the two-minute suspension.
• “An eighth player makes the previous score vanish”: Law 3.3 expressly leaves the score at the time of the objection unchanged.

World Rugby July 2026 source material

• World Rugby, Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, July 2026 edition — Law 3 on pages 31-37 and the Sevens Law 3 variations on pages 124-125 of the printed book.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 3: Team — seven-player maximum, five-replacement maximum and sevens-specific deletions.
• World Rugby Law 3: Team — permission, extra-player sanction, injury and HIA processes, tactical re-entry and rolling-replacement option.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 19.5: Scrum — three players per team and the stay-bound requirement.
• World Rugby Sevens variation, Law 9.29: Foul play — two-minute yellow-card suspension.
• World Rugby, implementation of the 20-minute red-card replacement, August 2025 guideline — qualifying and permanent red-card processes, read with 2026 Law 3.33(f).

Source note: checked on 28 August 2026 against World Rugby's July 2026 law book and live law pages. Competition regulations may supplement the baseline for event-squad size, eligibility, minimum starters, team-sheet deadlines, medical processes and authorised rolling replacements.