The back edge sets the offside line.

The ruleset and effective version used here

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026 for standard 15-a-side rugby, using the live English law text incorporating the 1 July 2026 update. The principal provisions are Law 10.9–10.11, Law 15 and Law 16.

World Rugby says its July changes apply to new competitions and events starting after 1 July 2026; a competition already in progress must use its union's implementation date. The one-metre protection for the player taking the ball away at a ruck or maul remains a Global Law Trial, introduced for new competitions after 1 January 2025. The June 2026 maul application guideline applies to new competitions from 1 June 2026. Those qualifications are identified below rather than treated as universal.

No ruck or maul means no ruck or maul line

The referee must identify the phase before setting the line. Under Law 15.2, a ruck forms only when at least one player from each team is on their feet, in contact and over the ball on the ground. A tackle with no such standing contest is not yet a ruck.

Under Law 16.2, a maul needs the ball-carrier and at least one player from each team, bound together and on their feet, with the ball off the ground. A held ball-carrier plus opponents, but no bound team-mate, is not yet a maul. Before formation, the tackle or open-play laws govern instead.

Ruck and maul use slightly different wording

• Ruck—Law 15.4: each team's line runs parallel to the try lines through the hindmost point of any ruck participant; for that team, it is the point nearest its own try line. In match language, this is the “back foot” line, although the law deliberately says “hindmost point.”
• Maul—Law 16.4: each team's line runs parallel to the try lines through the maul participants' hindmost foot nearest that team's own try line.
• At the try line: if the relevant hindmost point or foot is on or behind a team's try line, that try line is the team's offside line.

The ball may be well forward or at the rear without moving either line. The participating players determine the line while the phase exists.

Crossing the line is legal only as a legal join

Law 15.5–15.9 requires an arriving player to be on their feet, come from behind the offside line and join alongside—but not in front of—the hindmost player. The player must bind to a team-mate or opponent before, or at the same time as, making other bodily contact. A player outside the ruck must either join or retire behind the line immediately; a former participant may rejoin only from onside.

This separates two calls that are often collapsed into “offside.” A defender waiting beyond the back edge is offside. A player who begins onside but enters around the side, fails to bind or joins in front of the hindmost player has committed a ruck-entry offence. Each is normally sanctioned by a penalty, but the decisive facts differ.

Join on the hindmost player, not around the side

Law 16.5–16.7 requires a player to join from onside and bind onto the hindmost player already in the maul. A player who leaves must immediately retire behind the offside line before rejoining. Being alongside the maul without being caught in or bound to it is not legal participation.

The line is not the ball-carrier's position. A team may legally transfer the ball towards the back of a maul, but that does not permit a late entrant to attach ahead of the hindmost player. Obstruction, pulling an opponent and illegal ball transfer are separate Law 9 or Law 16 questions, not alternative definitions of offside.

Hands on the ball and ball out are not the same test

Current Law 15.19 gives three successful endings: the ball leaves the ruck; the player taking it away lifts it from the ground; or the ball in the ruck reaches the try line. Visibility alone is not an ending, and merely placing hands on a ball still on the ground does not necessarily end the ruck. Once one of those events occurs, the ruck line ends and open-play law takes over for players who were onside.

If the ball is clearly won and available, Law 15.17 requires the referee to call “use it”; it must be played away within five seconds or the sanction is a scrum. If the ball becomes unplayable, Law 15.20 awards a scrum to the side last moving forward.

The half-back may adjust a secured ball

World Rugby Clarification 2-2026 addresses a half-back moving beyond the back foot and moving the ball with the hands after the ruck contest is clearly over. Although that can appear inconsistent with the bare handling and offside wording, World Rugby says there is no material offence in that limited situation and officials should preserve continuity.

This is not a general licence to handle in a live contest or permission for defenders to advance on first touch. Officials should call “use it” as soon as the ball is clearly won and available. The ruck ends under Law 15.19 when the ball leaves, is lifted from the ground by the player playing it away, or reaches the try line.

The ball, not a defender's departure, ends the phase

Under Law 16.16, a maul ends successfully when the ball or ball-carrier leaves it, the ball goes to ground, or the ball reaches the try line. Law 16.17 provides scrum outcomes when the ball becomes unplayable, the maul collapses without foul play, it remains stationary too long without the ball emerging, or the ball-carrier goes down without making the ball immediately available.

If all defenders intentionally leave, Law 16.12 says the maul continues. They do not erase its offside lines by stepping away. The first defender to rejoin must bind onto the frontmost player of the team in possession under Law 16.13. When an available ball is not played within five seconds of “use it,” Law 16.17(e) gives a scrum.

An offender is not automatically cured when the phase ends

World Rugby Law 10.9–10.11 is the important exception to “the line disappears when the ball is out.” A player who was offside at the ruck or maul remains offside after it ends. That player becomes onside only by immediately retiring behind the applicable line, by an opponent carrying the ball five metres in any direction, or by an opponent kicking.

The player may be penalised for delaying retirement to benefit from a better position, interfering with play or moving towards the ball. By contrast, a player who remained onside until the phase ended may advance as open play begins.

The ball-player has a one-metre protected space

World Rugby's continuing Global Law Trial 15.18 and 16.18 says a player who is, or was, part of the ruck or maul may not play an opponent who is near it—within one metre—and attempting to play the ball away. The sanction is a penalty.

This provision protects the half-back or other ball-player from a participant reaching through or detaching to tackle immediately at the base. It is distinct from ordinary back-foot offside: a player might have been part of the contest rather than standing beyond the line and still offend under the trial. Confirm that the appointed competition has implemented the trial.

A defender on the “wrong” side of a maul must still be contesting legally

World Rugby's maul guideline, effective for new competitions from 1 June 2026, does not change Law 16. It tells officials to distinguish a player who remains legally bound and dominant in a contest for possession or space from one who has gone beyond the ball, lost dominance, become unbound, or moved into a pulling or dragging position.

A legally bound player may continue the contest. A player who is no longer legally effective must leave immediately, return behind or alongside the hindmost player, and rejoin from onside; disrupting play from the wrong side may be managed or sanctioned. The guideline applies to attackers and defenders and specifically rejects swinging around the maul in a chain.

Penalty, advantage, scrum or free-kick?

• Penalty: offside at the ruck or maul, illegal entry, failing to bind, failing to retire, interference while still offside, or breaching the one-metre trial protection.
• Advantage: Law 7 allows play to continue only where the non-offending team can gain a clear, real tactical or territorial benefit. If it does not, the referee returns to the original sanction.
• Scrum: common examples here are a ruck or maul “use it” expiry and a ball that becomes unplayable without foul play. Accidentally offside under Law 10.5 is also a scrum only if the offending team gains an advantage.
• Free-kick: pretending the ruck or maul has ended when it has not is a free-kick offence under Laws 15.16(g) and 16.11(c).

Under the World Rugby TMO Protocol implemented on 1 July 2026, a formal review in a try-scoring situation may assess clear and obvious offside under Law 15.4 or 16.4–16.6 within the last two phases, but not beyond the last restart. Those offences are not listed for a general TMO live call. A competition must have appointed the protocol; replay does not change the underlying offside tests.

How to decide a replay in seven steps

1. Name the phase. Has the tackle become a Law 15 ruck, or has a Law 16 maul formed?
2. Freeze the back edge. Find the relevant hindmost point at a ruck or hindmost foot at a maul.
3. Classify the player. Outside the phase, joining it, legally bound, leaving it, or already offside?
4. Test the entry. Was the player on their feet, behind the line and bound at the required place and time?
5. Identify the exact ending. Do not substitute “visible” or “hands on” for the Law 15.19 or 16.16 event.
6. Check continuing duties. Apply Law 10.9–10.11 to a player already offside and the one-metre trial to a former participant.
7. Choose the outcome. Apply advantage, then the law's penalty, scrum or free-kick sanction.

A defender starts beyond the ruck line

Situation: Green 6 stands with one foot beyond Green's Law 15.4 offside line. The ball is lifted and Green 6 immediately tackles the passer.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: penalty. Green 6 was already offside and Law 10.9 says the end of the ruck does not cure that position. Green 6 had not retired, nor had an opponent carried five metres or kicked.

An onside defender times the lift

Situation: Green 10 stays behind the ruck line. The half-back lifts the ball from the ground; Green 10 then advances.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: play on, subject to ordinary open-play law. Law 15.19 says the lift ends the ruck. Unlike Green 6 in the previous case, Green 10 was never offside at the ruck.

Hands rearrange a secured ball

Situation: with the contest clearly over, the half-back reaches just beyond the back foot and rolls the grounded ball into position without lifting it. A defender crosses the line on first contact.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: the half-back's limited action may be treated as no material offence under Clarification 2-2026, but the defender has moved early. The decisive ruck-ending event in Law 15.19 has not yet occurred.

A flanker tackles from the side of the ruck

Situation: Green 7 was bound in the ruck, detaches and tackles the half-back within one metre as the half-back tries to pass.

World Rugby 2026 Global Law Trial ruling: penalty under trial Law 15.18 in a competition that has implemented it. The decisive fact is that Green 7 is or was a ruck participant and plays the nearby opponent taking the ball away; this is not merely a back-foot measurement.

Every defender leaves the maul

Situation: all Green defenders intentionally detach. Green 4 circles around and grabs the ball-carrier from the side.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: penalty. Law 16.12 says the maul continues, and Law 16.13 requires the first returning defender to bind onto the attacking team's frontmost player. Walking away did not cancel the phase or its lines.

A maul defender emerges on the attacking side

Situation: Green 5 stays fully bound and dominant while driving and contesting space, then loses the bind and remains beside the ball to obstruct the pass.

World Rugby June 2026 guideline: the lawful contest may continue while Green 5 is legally bound and effective. Once unbound and out of the contest, Green 5 must leave and return onside; remaining to disrupt is liable to management or sanction.

Six shortcuts that give the wrong answer

• “The line is through the ball.” The participating players set it.
• “Hands on means ball out.” At a ruck, Law 15.19 specifies leaving, lifting or reaching the try line.
• “The phase ended, so everyone is onside.” Law 10 preserves the offside status of a player who was already illegal.
• “Side entry and offside are identical.” Starting position, route and binding are separate tests.
• “If defenders leave, the maul is over.” Intentional departure by every defender does not end it.
• “Any player on the wrong side of a maul must be penalised.” The June 2026 guideline protects a legal, bound contest but requires an ineffective or unbound player to leave.

Check the law appointed for the match

This page is the World Rugby 15-a-side baseline, not a claim that every age grade, domestic union, modified form or tournament uses identical implementation dates. World Rugby's July 2026 notice expressly leaves mid-competition adoption to the union. Competition regulations also determine whether the continuing one-metre trial and a TMO protocol apply.

Do not transfer these mechanics to rugby league: its play-the-ball and offside system is a different code. For a disputed match, identify the union, competition, season and appointed variations before applying the worked cases.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• World Rugby — Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, July 2026 edition, Laws 7, 10, 15 and 16
• World Rugby — live Law 10.5 and 10.9–10.11, accidental offside and retiring from a ruck or maul
• World Rugby — live Law 15 “Ruck,” especially 15.2, 15.4–15.9 and 15.17–15.20
• World Rugby — live Law 16 “Maul,” especially 16.2, 16.4–16.7 and 16.12–16.19
• World Rugby — live Law 7.1–7.2 “Advantage”
• World Rugby — Clarification 2-2026, actions of a half-back when ending a ruck, 1 June 2026
• World Rugby — Law Application Guideline “Maul,” applicable to new competitions from 1 June 2026
• World Rugby — Global Law Trials from 1 January 2025, new Laws 15.18 and 16.18
• World Rugby — July 2026 law update and competition implementation notice
• World Rugby — TMO Protocol, implementation 1 July 2026: offside review in try-scoring situations

Checked on 28 August 2026 against World Rugby's July 2026 law book, live English Laws 7, 10, 15 and 16, Clarification 2-2026, the June 2026 maul guideline, the continuing Global Law Trial notice and the TMO Protocol implemented 1 July 2026. This page uses the standard 15-a-side baseline. A union controls implementation for a competition already underway, and authorised domestic, age-grade or competition variations may supplement it.