A scrum resets only when it fails without an infringement.

The ruleset and effective version used here

This page applies World Rugby's 15-a-side Laws of the Game 2026, especially Laws 3, 7 and 19, with the live digital laws and July 2026 update checked on 28 August 2026. It is the international baseline, not a summary of one domestic league's referee directives.

World Rugby made the hooker's brake-foot requirement full law from 1 July 2026. The update applies to new competitions or events starting after that date; a competition already in progress must check its union's implementation date. The separate restriction on the non-possessing scrum-half remains labelled a Global Law Trial in the current Law 19 text.

A scrum is a restart, not a penalty in itself

Law 19 describes the scrum as a contest for possession after a minor infringement or stoppage. The event that stopped play determines the mark and the throw-in team. Common examples under Law 19.1 include:

• Knock forward or throw forward in open play: the non-offending team throws in, subject to advantage.
• Unplayable tackle or ruck: the team last moving forward throws in.
• Maul ending unsuccessfully: normally the team not in possession when the maul began throws in; if the referee cannot decide, it goes to the team last moving forward before the maul stopped.
• Unplayable maul after an opponent's open-play kick: exceptionally, the team that possessed the ball when the maul began throws in.
• Penalty or open-play offside: the non-offending team may choose the scrum option.

Those are distinct allocation rules. “The team going forward” is not a universal way to decide every scrum.

Square, stable and stationary comes before the throw

For a full 15-a-side contest, eight players from each team bind in three rows. Teams must be ready within 30 seconds of the referee making the mark; failure is a free-kick under Law 19.4. The referee then manages the engagement sequence:

1. “Crouch”: front rows take the prescribed body position. Each hooker uses a brake foot for stability.
2. “Bind”: props take and maintain the prescribed bind on the opponent's jersey; the hooker's brake foot must still act as a brake.
3. “Set”: only on this call is the brake foot removed and the front rows engage. Players must be positioned and ready to push, with the required foot contact.

Incorrect crouch, brake-foot, readiness or foot-position requirements carry free-kicks. Incorrect prop or pack binding carries a penalty. The distinction matters when a broadcast calls every pre-feed failure a “reset.”

“Straight” does not mean the scrum-half must stand centrally

The scrum-half chooses the side of the scrum. Under Laws 19.13–19.15, the ball must be thrown from outside the tunnel, without delay, in one quick forward movement, straight, and so it first touches the ground inside the tunnel. The scrum-half may place one shoulder on the middle line, leaving that player a shoulder-width closer to their own side.

The scrum begins when the ball leaves the scrum-half's hands. Only then may either pack push. The throw-in team's hooker must strike for the ball; a front-row player may strike only after it touches the ground in the tunnel. These throw, early-push and compulsory-strike offences are free-kicks, while using both feet together to strike is a penalty.

Dominance is legal; the method can be illegal

A team may win possession by pushing the opposition backwards and off the ball. Law 19.19 requires players to push straight and parallel to the ground. Players in the scrum may play the ball only with their feet or lower legs and may not lift it.

A retreating pack is not entitled to a reset merely because it is losing ground. Equally, visible dominance does not prove the opponent infringed. The referee must distinguish a legal straight shove from an illegal angle, lost bind, pull, intentional lift, intentional collapse, fall or kneel. Those latter acts carry penalties under Laws 19.19, 19.24 and 19.37.

Law 19.34 lists five no-infringement resets

If there is no infringement, the referee stops and resets when:

1. The throw goes in and the ball comes out at either end of the tunnel.
2. The scrum collapses or breaks up before it has otherwise ended.
3. The scrum wheels through more than 90 degrees, so its middle line passes beyond parallel to the touchline.
4. Neither side wins possession.
5. The ball is unintentionally kicked out of the tunnel.

For each genuine reset, Law 19.35 gives the throw back to the team that previously threw in. Repeatedly kicking the ball out is the express exception: the referee must treat that as intentional and award a penalty.

The cause, not the appearance, decides the outcome

• No identifiable infringement: use Law 19.34 and reset with the same throw-in team.
• Technical formation, engagement, throw or early-push offence: apply the free-kick attached to the relevant clause.
• Illegal bind, non-straight push, illegal play of the ball or dangerous practice: apply the penalty attached to the relevant clause.
• Failure after the referee's “use it” call: award a scrum to the team not in possession, rather than resetting for the original team.

Multiple unsuccessful scrums do not themselves prove which side offended. The referee may manage teams between attempts, but a sanction still needs a law infringement; the one explicit escalation in the reset clause is repeatedly kicking the ball out of the tunnel.

Some scrum events require an immediate whistle

Law 19.25 requires the referee to stop play immediately if the scrum collapses or a player is lifted or forced upwards out of it. The whistle protects players; the referee then determines the restart from the cause.

World Rugby Law 7 also forbids advantage when the ball exits either end of the tunnel, the scrum wheels beyond 90 degrees, a scrum player is lifted off the ground, or continuing would be dangerous. Advantage may apply to other infringements only when the non-offending team gains a clear, real tactical or territorial benefit. A mere chance of benefit is not enough.

A stationary scrum cannot hold available ball indefinitely

When the scrum is stationary and the ball has been available at the back for three to five seconds, Law 19.26 tells the referee to call “use it.” The team must then play the ball out immediately. If it does not, Law 19.1 awards the resulting scrum to the team that was not in possession.

This is different from a no-possession reset. In one case the ball has been won and is available but not used; in the other neither team has won it.

Seeing the ball is not the legal test

Under Law 19.36, the scrum ends when the ball comes out in any direction other than the tunnel; when the ball reaches the hindmost player's feet and that player picks it up or the team's scrum-half plays it; when the number eight picks up from a second-row player's feet; when the referee whistles for an infringement; or when the ball is on or over the try line.

A ball that is merely visible at the base may still be in the scrum. Conversely, once it has legally emerged, a player cannot bring it back in; that is a free-kick under Law 19.38.

Five metres for backs; a special route for each scrum-half

Non-participants remain at least five metres behind the hindmost foot of their own scrum, or on the try line if the hindmost foot is in-goal or within five metres of it. These lines disappear only when the scrum ends.

The scrum-half whose team has possession must keep at least one foot level with or behind the ball. Under the current World Rugby Global Law Trial in Law 19.30, the other scrum-half may stay near the scrum only with both feet no farther forward than the centre line of the tunnel, or permanently retire to the hindmost-foot offside line, or retire at least five metres behind it. Each breach is a penalty. Because this provision is still marked as a trial, the appointed competition rules should be checked.

Unsafe front-row availability changes the contest

Under World Rugby Laws 3.13–3.20, scrums become uncontested if either team cannot field a suitably trained front row or if the referee orders them. There is then no contest for the ball, but the scrum remains a formal restart with the required players and offside lines.

When uncontested scrums result from a sending-off, yellow card or injury, they must have eight players per side. Player-removal and replacement consequences can vary in elite rugby or under match-organiser rules, so “uncontested” does not automatically mean both teams continue with the same on-field numbers.

Under-19 and Game On rules are deliberately different

World Rugby Law 19.39 lets a union implement the under-19 scrum variations at defined levels within its jurisdiction. Under those variations, an unintentional wheel beyond 45 degrees triggers the reset instead of the senior 90-degree test. A push beyond 1.5 metres and keeping the ball in once heeled and controlled at the base bring free-kicks; an intentional wheel brings a penalty.

Under-19 rules also require matched reductions when one scrum has fewer than eight players and prescribe formations down to five. Separately, World Rugby's Game On variation allows match organisers to reduce contested-scrum numbers, use the under-19 1.5-metre limit or use uncontested scrums. These are authorised variations, not the default senior 15-a-side law.

The scrum collapses with no clear offender

Situation: after a legal throw, both front rows lose stability and the scrum collapses before the ball emerges. The referee sees no illegal bind, angle, pull or intentional collapse.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: whistle immediately, then reset under Law 19.34(b). The team that made the previous throw does so again. The decisive fact is the absence of an identified infringement.

A prop deliberately pulls the scrum down

Situation: the scrum collapses, but the referee sees a prop pull an opponent down while bound.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: penalty, not a reset. Law 19.37 expressly treats pulling an opponent and intentionally collapsing as dangerous scrum practices. The same visible outcome as case 1 has a different legal cause.

The wheel reaches 60 degrees

Situation: a senior 15-a-side scrum turns 60 degrees without an infringement and the ball remains playable.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: play continues; the senior reset threshold is more than 90 degrees. If an under-19 variation applies, an unintentional turn beyond 45 degrees is instead stopped and reset. The ruleset, not the players' ages alone, supplies the threshold because the union must implement the variation.

The ball is available but the number eight waits

Situation: the scrum is stationary, the ball has sat available at the back for the required period, and the referee calls “use it.” The team still does not release it immediately.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: scrum to the team not in possession under Laws 19.26 and 19.1. This is neither a same-team reset nor a penalty.

How to read a scrum decision

1. Name the ruleset. Senior 15-a-side, under-19, sevens, 10s and Game On can differ.
2. Identify the original restart. The preceding infringement or stoppage determines the mark and throw.
3. Locate the phase. Did the problem occur before engagement, at “set,” during the throw, during the contest or after the ball became available?
4. Check immediate-safety conditions. Collapse, lift or dangerous continuation requires a whistle.
5. Look for a specific infringement. Binding, body angle, early push, throw, strike, handling and intentional dangerous acts carry stated sanctions.
6. If none exists, test Law 19.34. Only its listed no-infringement events produce a reset.
7. Check whether the scrum already ended. An emerged ball or legal pickup changes the phase and its offside lines.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Every collapse is a reset.” Only a no-infringement collapse is; an intentional collapse is a penalty.
• “Every collapse must be a penalty.” Law 19.34 expressly provides a reset where no infringement occurred.
• “The feed can go straight to the hooker's feet.” The ball must still be thrown straight, although the scrum-half may stand a shoulder-width towards their team.
• “A dominant scrum has earned a penalty.” Legal dominance wins ground or possession; a penalty requires an opponent's infringement.
• “The ball is out as soon as viewers can see it.” Law 19.36 lists the events that end the scrum; visibility is not one of them.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• World Rugby — live Laws of the Game, Law 19: Scrum (2026 text)
• World Rugby — Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, Law 19 and variations
• World Rugby — live Laws of the Game, Law 7: Advantage (2026 text)
• World Rugby — live Laws of the Game, Law 3.13–3.20: Uncontested scrums (2026 text)
• World Rugby — Under-19 Law 19 scrum variations (2026 text)
• World Rugby — Game On variation, Law 19.40 (2026 text)
• World Rugby — Global Law Trials effective for new competitions from 1 January 2025, scrum-half protection
• World Rugby — July 2026 law update and implementation notice

Checked on 28 August 2026 against World Rugby's live digital laws, the 2026 law book and the July 2026 implementation notice. The page uses the senior 15-a-side baseline; unions and competition organisers may set implementation dates, authorised age-grade or Game On variations, and supplementary competition regulations.