SRSport Rules
Rugby

Kicking rules and 50:22, made practical.

Rugby allows kicking in open play, from restarts, and from penalties or free-kicks, but the result depends on where the kick was taken, whether it bounced before going into touch, and whether the kicker's team was entitled to gain ground.

Quick ruling: a 50:22 gives the kicking team the throw if the ball is kicked from inside their own half, bounces in the field of play inside the opponents' 22, and then goes into touch, provided the kicking team did not take the ball back into their own half and no restart-kick exception applies.
Kicking basics

What a kick can do

A player may kick the ball to gain territory, find touch, chase possession, restart play, attempt goal from a penalty, or attempt a dropped goal in open play. Most confusion comes after the kick, not from the act of kicking itself.

  • A kick in open play is live unless the ball goes into touch, becomes dead in in-goal, or another law stops play.
  • Team-mates in front of the kicker are offside and must not interfere until they are put onside.
  • A kick to touch may bring a lineout, a quick throw, a scrum option, or a retake option depending on the type of kick.
  • Penalty kicks to touch are treated differently from ordinary open-play kicks and free-kicks.
50:22

When the kicking team throws in

The 50:22 law rewards a controlled territorial kick. The kick must start from inside the kicker's own half, land or bounce in the field of play inside the opponents' 22, and then go into touch. If those requirements are met, the kicking team gets the lineout throw where the ball reaches touch.

  • The ball cannot go straight into touch. It must bounce in the field of play before crossing the touchline.
  • The kick must be from the team's own half, not from just over halfway.
  • The kick must finish in touch inside the opposition 22 area.
  • The variation does not apply to a kick-off or any type of restart kick.
Halfway detail

Taking the ball back matters

The 50:22 is not available simply because the kicker's foot is in their own half. The law also checks how the ball got there. The kicking team must not have carried, passed, or otherwise taken the ball back into their own half immediately before the kick unless there has been a tackle, ruck, or maul in that half, or an opponent has touched the ball there.

The same idea appears in the 22-metre kicking rules. If a defending team takes the ball back into its own 22 and then kicks directly into touch without a tackle, ruck, maul, or opponent touch inside the 22, it does not get the full territorial gain.

Touch finder

Direct vs bouncing into touch

If an open-play kick bounces in the field before going into touch, the mark of touch is normally where the ball reaches the touchline. The opposition usually throws in, except for special cases such as a valid 50:22 or a penalty kick to touch.

  • Directly into touch from outside the 22: there is usually no gain in ground; the lineout is brought back in line with where the ball was kicked if that is nearer the kicker's try line.
  • Directly into touch from inside the 22: there is gain in ground only if the team did not take the ball back into the 22, or if a tackle, ruck, maul, or opponent touch happened inside the 22.
  • Penalty kicked to touch: the kicking team throws in, whether the ball goes directly into touch or bounces first.
  • Free-kick kicked directly to touch: it does not carry the same touch-lineout benefit as a penalty.
Restarts

Kick-offs and drop-outs have options

Kick-offs and restart kicks are drop kicks with their own requirements. From halfway, the ball must reach the 10-metre line unless an opponent plays it first. Drop-outs must cross their sanction line. If these kicks go directly into touch, the non-kicking team usually has options rather than a simple ordinary lineout result.

  • For a kick-off or restart after a score that goes directly into touch, the non-kicking team may choose a retake, scrum, lineout, or quick throw.
  • For a drop-out that goes directly into touch, the opposing team may choose a retake, scrum, lineout, or quick throw.
  • If a restart goes dead through in-goal in specified ways, the non-kicking team may also have a retake or scrum option.
Offside chasers

Who can chase the kick

Players who are in front of a team-mate who kicks the ball are offside. They must retreat or avoid interference until put onside by an onside team-mate, by moving behind the kicker or another onside team-mate, or in some situations by an opponent's action.

The strict 10-metre law is important on high kicks. An offside player within 10 metres of where the ball lands or is caught must retire and cannot be put onside merely because an opponent touches the ball, except after a charge-down.

Common mix-ups

Where fans get caught

  • "Any kick from your half into their 22 is a 50:22": no. It must bounce in the field inside the opponents' 22 and then go into touch.
  • "A penalty kick follows the normal touch rule": no. A penalty kicked to touch gives the kicking team the throw.
  • "Inside the 22 always means full gain in ground": no. If the team took the ball back into the 22 and nothing reset the situation, the lineout can be brought back.
  • "A player in front of the kicker can just stop moving": not enough if that player interferes, advances, or is caught by the 10-metre law.
Decision path

How officials sort it

  1. Identify the type of kick: open play, penalty, free-kick, kick-off, restart after a score, or drop-out.
  2. Check where the kick was taken: own half, outside the 22, inside the 22, or from a restart mark.
  3. Decide whether the ball went directly into touch, bounced first, was caught by a player in touch, or became dead in in-goal.
  4. For a possible 50:22, confirm the kick was from the kicking team's own half and that the team had not simply taken the ball back there without a reset event.
  5. For chase pressure, check whether players in front of the kicker interfered while offside or breached the 10-metre law.