Yellow removes the player for 10 playing minutes; red ends that player's match.

The ruleset this page applies

This page covers the 15-a-side game under World Rugby's Laws of the Game 2026, including the law update effective for new competitions and events starting after 1 July 2026. The main provisions are Law 9.29 (yellow and second yellow), Law 9.30 (red and replacement), Law 3 (team and front-row replacements), and World Rugby Regulation 17 (later discipline).

World Rugby says a competition already under way on 1 July should check with its union for the implementation date. National unions, leagues and tournaments may also appoint different review systems and decide which of their competitions count as “elite.” Those regulations must be checked before applying the elite replacement procedure to a particular match.

A card does not answer everything

Keep three decisions separate:

1. What happened on the field? Identify the infringement and its normal sanction, usually a penalty for foul play.
2. What happens to the player now? The referee may caution, show yellow, or show red.
3. What happens to the team's numbers? A yellow leaves the team short for 10 playing minutes. After red, replacement depends on the elite/non-elite rule and the classification of the action.

A later judicial suspension is a fourth decision. It does not change the score or rewrite the match-time result.

What the 10 minutes actually means

World Rugby Law 9.29 says the referee shows yellow when a player is cautioned and suspended for 10 minutes. World Rugby defines a yellow card as a temporary suspension spent in the sin bin, and Regulation 17.2.2 confirms that the period is 10 minutes of playing time in the 15-a-side game.

• Stoppages do not use up the suspension: playing time excludes time lost for stoppages.
• The team plays short: this is not an ordinary tactical replacement opportunity.
• Return is not automatic at 10:00: World Rugby's sideline guidance says the player returns at the next time a replacement could be made and with the referee's permission. A quick penalty or quick lineout can delay entry.
• Half-time does not burn the clock: the interval is not playing time, although additional playing time before the first half actually ends does count.
• Sevens is different: its Law 9 variation and Regulation 17 use two minutes, not ten. That variation is outside this page's primary scope.

Foul play and repeated offending can both lead there

Law 9 is wider than dangerous tackles. It covers obstruction, intentional unfair play, repeated infringements, dangerous play and misconduct. A card is additional to the sanction for the underlying offence.

Law 9.10 gives a precise team-repetition route: when different players repeatedly commit the same offence, the referee gives the team a general caution; if the team repeats it, the guilty player or players are shown yellow. That player can therefore be suspended even though the latest infringement, viewed in isolation, might not look like dangerous foul play.

The player's removal is always permanent

Under World Rugby Law 9.30, the referee shows red when sending a player off. The player takes no further part in that match. Even where the team later restores its numbers, the sent-off player does not return.

“Permanent red” is useful shorthand for a red-card action for which the team is not allowed a replacement. It does not mean that a replaceable red is temporary for the offender: both end the offender's match. The difference concerns only whether another eligible player may eventually enter.

When a red-card replacement is allowed

• Non-elite rugby: Law 9.30's baseline applies—the sent-off player may not be replaced, so the team remains short.
• Elite rugby, intentional and highly dangerous action: no replacement is permitted.
• Elite rugby, another red-card action: a different player may replace the sent-off player after 20 minutes of playing time.

Law 3.33(f) permits a tactically replaced player to return as the replacement for a qualifying red after the 20 minutes. World Rugby's implementation guideline also says any available member of the replacement bench, used or unused, may fill the place. The match officials and competition process determine eligibility; a team cannot self-classify a red from the broadcast picture.

The 20-minute rule is full law, with a transition date

World Rugby first introduced the elite replacement provision as a Global Law Trial. Its 17 June 2026 Council decision moved the 20-minute red-card replacement into full law from 1 July 2026. World Rugby's update says the new text applies to competitions and events starting after that date; a competition already in progress must follow its union's implementation decision.

The August 2025 implementation guideline still describes the system as a trial because it predates that Council decision. Its match-official procedures remain the published implementation guidance, but “trial” is no longer the correct general label for a competition operating the July 2026 law update.

The second yellow sends the player off

Law 9.29 is explicit: if a yellow-carded player later commits another yellow-card offence, that player must be sent off. The second offence need not independently reach the straight-red threshold.

Under World Rugby's elite implementation guideline, a red produced by two yellows is replaceable after 20 playing minutes. There is an important exception: if the second incident itself is intentional and highly dangerous, officials treat it as a permanent red rather than merely a second yellow. Outside elite rugby, the ordinary non-replacement rule applies after the sending-off.

A “bunker” is a competition procedure, not a universal card

Where an elite competition appoints a Foul Play Review Officer (FPRO), the referee may refer an incident that clearly meets at least the yellow threshold but cannot be resolved quickly. The referee shows yellow and crosses the arms above the head; the player leaves for the ordinary 10-minute suspension while the review occurs.

World Rugby's August 2025 guideline gives the FPRO up to eight minutes to advise that the card remain yellow or be upgraded to a 20-minute red. The FPRO in that process cannot recommend a permanent red. A clear intentional and highly dangerous action can instead be given a permanent red directly by the referee. Competitions without an FPRO may use a TMO in that role, or may have the on-field team decide all card outcomes.

The card is not the restart

Law 9.29 states that play restarts with a penalty after the yellow-card process. More generally, officials apply the sanction attached to the underlying foul-play offence. Under Law 7, the referee may allow a clear and real advantage, but must stop immediately if continuing would be dangerous or a serious injury is suspected.

A card also does not automatically award a try. Under Law 8.3, a seven-point penalty try is awarded only where foul play prevented a try that probably would otherwise have been scored, or prevented it being scored in a more advantageous position. The offender must then be yellow-carded or sent off. The probable-try test and the card level are related decisions, not substitutes for each other.

A card can require a temporary reshuffle

Safety rules prevent a team from simply packing an unqualified front row. Under Law 3.19, if a yellow-carded front-row player's team cannot contest the next scrum with the players already on the field, it nominates another player to leave so an available front-row player can enter. The nominated player may return when the suspension ends, subject to the replacement process.

Law 3.20 provides a similar mechanism after a front-row red card. If the departure means the team cannot field a suitably trained front row, Laws 3.13–3.17 govern uncontested scrums and may require a further reduction under the match organiser's applicable procedure. Bringing on a front-row player does not cancel the card or restore an extra player.

How to read a card decision

1. Name the competition, level and implementation date. Confirm whether the July 2026 law update governs and whether the match is classed as elite.
2. Identify the exact infringement. Separate dangerous play from cynical or repeated offending.
3. Apply any offence-specific process. For example, use the current head-contact process for relevant head contact, not as a universal card scale.
4. Check team warnings and the player's earlier card. Repetition or a second yellow changes the result.
5. Choose the restart or play advantage. Consider the separate penalty-try test where a probable try was prevented.
6. Choose the player's sanction. Penalty only, yellow, second-yellow sending-off or straight red.
7. Classify team replacement separately. Non-elite, elite permanent red, or elite qualifying 20-minute red.
8. Follow the appointed review and return procedure. Do not assume every televised or community match uses an FPRO.

A team repeats the warned offence

Situation: several defenders concede the same breakdown offence. The referee gives the captain a general team caution. A different defender then repeats that offence.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: Law 9.10 directs the referee to show the guilty player yellow. The player serves 10 playing minutes and the team remains one short. The decisive fact is the offence after a general team caution, not that the final act alone looked exceptionally dangerous.

A second yellow is not automatically a permanent elite red

Situation: in an elite match using the July 2026 law, a player who has already served yellow later commits a different yellow-card offence. The second act is not itself classified as intentional and highly dangerous.

Ruling: Law 9.29 sends the player off. The player never returns. Under World Rugby's elite implementation guidance, another eligible player may restore the team's numbers after 20 playing minutes. The decisive fact is accumulation; neither offence has been re-labelled as a straight permanent-red act.

A clear permanent red in elite rugby

Situation: the referee and TMO can quickly determine that an act was both intentional and highly dangerous.

Ruling: the referee may show a permanent red directly. The offender takes no further part and Law 9.30 does not permit the team to replace that player after 20 minutes. The fact that the match is elite does not make every red replaceable.

The sin-bin clock reaches ten during a stoppage

Situation: the stadium clock shows that ten minutes of elapsed time have passed since yellow, but two of those minutes were time lost for an injury and review.

World Rugby 2026 ruling: the suspension has not expired because Law 9 and Regulation 17 use playing time, which excludes time lost. Once ten playing minutes have elapsed, the player still waits for a dead ball and the referee's permission before returning.

Field outcome and later discipline are different

World Rugby Regulation 17 deals with orderings-off, citings and accumulated temporary suspensions. A player who is red-carded is provisionally ineligible to play pending the disciplinary decision. A citing commissioner may also cite foul play that met the red-card test even if the player was not sent off; special provisions apply after a sending-off for two yellows.

A judicial officer or panel can review whether the act warranted red and then determine any further sanction. That later ruling affects the player's record and future availability. Regulation 17.15.2 preserves the referee's on-field decisions and their sporting consequences, so a later dismissal or reduction does not replay the match or remove points already scored.

Claims that cause most confusion

• “A red-carded player can return after 20 minutes.” False: only a different eligible player can enter, and only for a qualifying elite red.
• “All rugby now uses a 20-minute red.” False: Law 9.30 restricts replacement to elite rugby, whose level is determined by unions and competitions.
• “The rule is still only a trial.” Outdated for competitions using the July 2026 law update; World Rugby moved it into full law.
• “Every second yellow is a permanent red.” The player is permanently sent off, but elite team-replacement status is a separate question.
• “Ten minutes means ten minutes on a watch.” It means playing time, excluding time lost.
• “A bunker can give any outcome.” Under World Rugby's published procedure, an FPRO formal review can retain yellow or advise a 20-minute-red upgrade, not a permanent red.

Governing-body sources and effective versions

• World Rugby — Laws of the Game Rugby Union 2026, July 2026 text; Laws 3, 7, 8 and 9
• World Rugby — current Law 9: Foul play; sections 9.10 and 9.29–9.30
• World Rugby — current Law 3: Team; sections 3.6–3.7, 3.13–3.20 and 3.33(f)
• World Rugby — current Laws definitions; “playing time” and “yellow card”
• World Rugby Passport — Sin bins (Yellow Card); current return and half-time timing guidance
• World Rugby — July 2026 law update; full-law status and competition transition date
• World Rugby — implementation of the 20-minute red-card replacement in elite rugby, August 2025; review options and replacement procedure
• World Rugby — Regulation 17: Discipline — Foul Play; current live regulation, sections 17.1–17.2, 17.9, 17.12 and 17.15–17.17
• World Rugby — Head Contact Process, in effect from 9 March 2023 and retained in the current guidelines

Checked on 28 August 2026 against World Rugby's July 2026 law text, July implementation notice, current Passport guidance and live Regulation 17. The August 2025 guideline still uses “trial” terminology, but World Rugby's later July 2026 notice confirms full-law status. A union or competition may supplement the baseline with its definition of elite rugby, start-date decision, appointed review process and disciplinary regulations.