A ruck has the ball on the ground; a maul keeps it off the ground.

The authority and version used here

This page applies the World Rugby Laws of the Game 2026, principally Laws 15 (ruck), 16 (maul) and the restart table in Law 19, with the live laws checked after World Rugby's 1 July 2026 update. It covers the international 15-a-side baseline and the current global trial stated below, not a particular domestic league, age grade or closed trial.

The separate maul Law Application Guideline applies to new competitions from 1 June 2026, while a mid-season competition could choose to adopt it. World Rugby's 1 July 2026 changes likewise apply to new competitions or events starting after that date; a competition already under way should confirm its implementation date with its union. Match-organiser regulations can therefore affect which current guidance is in force.

How to tell the two phases apart

• Ruck — Law 15.2: the ball is on the ground and at least one player from each team is on their feet, in physical contact and over it.
• Maul — Law 16.2: the ball-carrier and at least one player from each team are bound together and on their feet; the ball remains off the ground.
• Neither: a tackled player and tackler on the ground, a lone player standing over the ball, or a ball-carrier held only by an opponent does not yet satisfy either definition.

Both phases can form only in the field of play. The tackle duties in Law 14—release, roll away and make the ball available—apply before and around ruck formation. Calling every post-tackle contest a “ruck” skips the decisive formation test.

Feet win the ball once the ruck forms

World Rugby Law 15.10 allows possession to be won by rucking or by pushing opponents off the ball. Players may play the ball with their feet safely, but may not kick or attempt to kick it out of the ruck, pick it up with their legs, intentionally step on a player, or return a ball that has emerged. The last of those is a free-kick offence; most illegal play during the contest is a penalty.

Players must endeavour to stay on their feet. Someone on the ground must try to move away and must not play the ball in the ruck or as it emerges. “Sealing off” is not a separate phrase in Law 15, but a player who falls beyond the ball, blocks a fair contest or fails to remain on their feet can offend under the applicable tackle, ruck or foul-play provision.

A legal pre-ruck grip can survive formation

Law 15.11 prohibits handling after a ruck has formed, with one narrow exception: a player who got hands on the ball before formation and stays on their feet may continue. This is the legal basis for a standing “stealer” or “jackler” retaining a genuine pre-ruck grip. It is not permission for a later-arriving player to reach in, or for the same player to lose the ball and start handling it again while the ruck continues.

World Rugby Clarification 2-2026 addresses a different moment: when the contest is clearly over, the ball is secured and the half-back moves it with the hands to play it away. Although that can appear to conflict with the literal wording, World Rugby says there is no material offence in that context and officials should favour continuity. The clarification is not a licence to handle during a live contest.

Entry requires an onside position and a bind

At a ruck, an arriving player must be on their feet, come from behind their offside line and join alongside—but not in front of—the hindmost player. The player must bind to a teammate or opponent before, or at the same time as, making other contact (Laws 15.5–15.8).

At a maul, a joiner must come from an onside position and bind to the hindmost player in the maul (Law 16.7). “Bound” means the whole arm, from hand to shoulder, is in contact with a player between the shoulders and hips. A shoulder charge followed by a token arm is not a prior or simultaneous bind.

Law 9.20 also controls dangerous entry: no charging in without binding, contact above an opponent's shoulders, intentional collapse, rolling/pulling/twisting a stealer, dropping weight onto an opponent or targeting lower limbs. Advantage may be played after an infringement, but foul play can still bring a caution, yellow card or red card as well as the penalty.

The back of the phase creates two lines

At a ruck, each team's offside line runs through the hindmost point of any ruck participant (Law 15.4). At a maul, it runs through the hindmost foot nearest that team's own try line (Law 16.4). If that point or foot is on or behind the try line, the try line itself is the offside line.

A player must join legally or retire behind the relevant line immediately. A player who leaves a maul must first retire behind the line before rejoining. Side entry is therefore both a joining problem and often an offside problem; standing beside the phase does not make a player part of it.

Visible is not the test; out or lifted is

Under Law 15.19, the ruck ends and play continues when the ball leaves the ruck, when the player playing it away lifts it from the ground, or when the ball in the ruck is on or over the try line. Until then, the ruck offside lines remain.

A ball can be clearly visible and available at the back without yet being out. That is when the referee may call “use it,” not when defenders may step beyond their offside line. If the half-back lifts the ball from the ground, the ruck has ended even before the pass is released.

“Use it” and unplayable are different scrum awards

• Clearly won and available: the referee calls “use it”; the team must play the ball away within five seconds (Law 15.17). Failure brings a scrum to the team not in possession.
• Probably will not emerge: the referee stops an unplayable ruck within a reasonable time. The scrum goes to the team last moving forward (Law 15.20 and the Law 19 table).
• Illegal prevention: hands in the ruck, side entry, offside, deliberate collapse or a player on the ground interfering normally brings a penalty rather than a neutral turnover scrum.

The referee can apply Law 7 advantage where the non-offending team gains a real tactical or territorial benefit. A “turnover” is therefore not one universal sanction: it may be live possession won legally, a scrum allocation after an unplayable phase, or possession gained after a penalty.

One stop does not automatically end the maul

Once formed, a maul must move towards a try line (Law 16.3). If it stops, it may restart within five seconds. If it has stopped for more than five seconds but the ball is visible and being moved, the referee instructs the team to use it within a reasonable time. If it restarts within five seconds and then stops a second time, the referee again instructs the team to use it if the ball is visible and moving (Laws 16.14–16.15).

If the maul does not move towards a try line for more than five seconds and the ball does not emerge, it ends unsuccessfully. This is why “two stops are always allowed” is too crude: visibility, movement of the ball, whether the maul restarted within five seconds, and whether the ball emerges all affect the ruling.

The ball may move back; players may not become a shield

A team may transfer the ball backwards through a legal maul, but Law 16.2 requires a player ripping it from the carrier to remain in contact with that carrier until the transfer. A long-arm or sideways “shift drive” that leaves teammates obstructing in front is illegal. Law 16.10 also says a player in possession must not slide or move backwards within the maul; the ball should instead be transferred to a hindmost player.

At a lineout, lifters must not step in front of the descending jumper and deny opponents access to tackle or drive the ball-carrier. That can be obstruction under Law 9.3. Attackers joining late are also bound by the same Law 16.7 requirement as defenders: join onside and bind to the hindmost player.

A wrong-side defender must still be contesting

World Rugby's June 2026 maul guideline deals with a defender who began legally, gained dominance and ended up on the attacking side. The player may remain bound and contest the ball or drive while still in a genuine position to do so. Once beyond the ball or no longer able to push or drive—especially in a pulling or dragging position—the player should leave immediately or be managed and sanctioned.

A player who leaves can rejoin legally from that team's side or retire to the offside line. The guideline also rejects forming a chain of two or more players and swinging around the side to join: each joiner must comply with the hindmost-player requirement. The guideline changes application, not the text of Law 16.

A maul can continue after every defender detaches

Law 16.12 says that if the team without the ball intentionally leaves so that none of its players remains attached, the maul continues; it does not instantly become open play. If those defenders rejoin, the first must bind to the frontmost player of the team in possession (Law 16.13). This special re-entry rule prevents defenders from leaving and then attacking the side or rear of the continuing maul.

Players still outside the maul must remain behind their offside line. The attacking team cannot use the defenders' departure as permission to place a detached screen in front of the ball-carrier.

Ball out, ball down and failed maul are separate

A maul ends successfully and play continues when the ball or ball-carrier leaves it, the ball reaches the ground, or the ball is on or over the try line (Law 16.16). A ball-carrier may choose to go to ground, but must make the ball available immediately; other maul participants must endeavour to stay on their feet.

It ends unsuccessfully if the ball is unplayable, it collapses without foul play, it fails the movement test, the grounded carrier does not make the ball immediately available, or the team fails to play an available ball within five seconds after “use it” (Law 16.17). An intentional collapse is instead a penalty offence under Laws 16.11 and 9.20.

Possession at formation usually decides the throw

For a maul that ends unsuccessfully, the Law 19 restart table awards the scrum throw to the team that did not have possession when the maul began. If the referee cannot decide who had possession, it goes to the team last moving forward before the maul stopped.

There is an important kick-catch exception in Laws 16.19 and 19: if a player directly catches an opponent's kick in open play and a maul forms immediately, the catcher's team receives the scrum when that maul becomes unplayable. Failure to obey “use it” is different again: that scrum goes to the team not in possession at the time of the failure.

A ruck or maul participant cannot hit the passer within one metre

Global Law Trial clauses 15.18 and 16.18 protect the player trying to play the ball away: a player who is or was part of the ruck or maul may not play an opponent within one metre of it who is attempting to move the ball away. The sanction is a penalty.

This does not give the passer general immunity. The restriction applies to an opponent who is or was part of that phase, to the player attempting to play the ball away, and within the stated one-metre area. Ordinary offside and foul-play laws still govern everyone else. Check the appointed competition rules when a match spans a trial implementation boundary.

The stealer has hands on before support arrives

Situation: Green 7 is on their feet over a tackled opponent, grips the released ball, and only then is contacted by a standing opponent so that a ruck forms.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: Green 7 may continue handling while remaining on their feet under Law 15.11. The decisive fact is that the grip preceded formation. If Green 7 loses that grip after the ruck forms, reaching in again would be illegal handling.

The ball is visible after “use it”

Situation: Blue has clearly won a ruck. The ball sits exposed at the back, the referee calls “use it,” and Blue waits more than five seconds without playing it away.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: scrum to Red, the team not in possession, under Laws 15.17 and 19. Visibility did not end the ruck; the ignored five-second instruction determines the restart.

A legal maul falls without foul play

Situation: Blue carried the ball when the maul formed. It collapses through loss of footing, the referee sees no intentional collapse, and the ball is trapped.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: the maul ends unsuccessfully and Red normally throws into the scrum because Red did not have possession at formation. If the evidence instead showed a deliberate collapse, the outcome would be a penalty, subject to advantage, not the unsuccessful-maul scrum.

A kick catcher is held up

Situation: Red directly catches Blue's open-play kick. Blue holds the catcher, a Red teammate binds, and a maul forms immediately. The ball then becomes unplayable.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: Red throws into the scrum under the direct-catch exception in Laws 16.19 and 19. Without that immediate opponent-kick sequence, the usual unsuccessful-maul rule would favour the team not in possession at formation.

How to analyse the replay

1. Start before the pile. Was there a tackle, a standing hold, a kick catch or a lineout transfer?
2. Locate the ball. Grounded points towards a ruck; held off the ground points towards a possible maul.
3. Count and check feet. Apply the exact one-player-from-each-team requirements and confirm who is standing.
4. Freeze formation. Note who had possession, whether a stealer's hands were already on, and where each offside line arose.
5. Track entry and binding. Check onside position, hindmost player, prior or simultaneous bind and dangerous contact.
6. Identify the end event. Ball out or lifted, ball grounded, try line, legal collapse, unplayable ball, or a “use it” failure are not interchangeable.
7. Choose the outcome. Continue play, apply advantage, award the correct team's scrum, or penalise the infringement; consider discipline separately for foul play.

Six shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Ball on the ground means ruck.” The required standing opponent and teammate must also be in contact over it.
• “One teammate joining the held carrier makes a maul.” At least one opponent must also be bound and on their feet.
• “No hands after ruck.” A pre-formation grip may continue, and Clarification 2-2026 addresses the secured-ball half-back situation.
• “Visible means out.” Law 15.19 requires the ball to leave, be lifted by the player playing it away, or reach the try line.
• “The maul gets two stops.” The five-second movement, visible-ball and use-it conditions matter.
• “Every collapsed maul is a penalty.” Deliberate collapse is penalised; a collapse without foul play is an unsuccessful maul and scrum.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• World Rugby — Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, Laws 9, 15, 16 and 19
• World Rugby — current Law 15: Ruck
• World Rugby — current Law 16: Maul
• World Rugby — current Law 19: Scrum, restart allocation table
• World Rugby — Clarification 2-2026, half-back actions when ending a ruck (1 June 2026)
• World Rugby — Law Application Guideline: Maul (new competitions from 1 June 2026)
• World Rugby — Global Law Trials from 1 January 2025, Laws 15.18 and 16.18
• World Rugby — July 2026 law updates and implementation notice

Checked on 28 August 2026 against the World Rugby 2026 law book, the live law pages and current Global Law Trial labels, Clarification 2-2026, and the June 2026 maul guideline. The baseline is World Rugby 15-a-side law; unions and match organisers may set later implementation dates for competitions already under way and may supplement it with age-grade variations or approved trials.