The Rugby Breakdown: Tackle, Ruck and Maul Laws Explained

A ruck forms when at least one player from each team is on their feet, in contact and over the ball on the ground (Law 15.2). From that moment nobody may handle the ball unless they already had their hands on it before the ruck formed and stayed on their feet; everyone joining must come from behind their offside line, bind on, keep their head and shoulders no lower than their hips and try to stay on their feet; and once the referee calls "use it", the ball has five seconds to come out. A maul is the same contest with the ball held off the ground, and it has one extra obligation: it must keep moving towards a try line.

Those two laws, together with the tackle law that comes before them, make up what rugby people call the breakdown. Three different laws can govern the same passage of play within a couple of seconds, so the clearest way to learn them is to follow one passage from start to finish. Everything below reflects World Rugby's laws site as of October 2026.

One passage of play, law by law

Red's number 8 picks up and carries into Blue's defence just inside halfway.

Step 1: the tackle

A tackle happens only when the ball-carrier is held and brought to ground. "Brought to ground" means lying, sitting, or with at least one knee on the ground; "held" means the tackler keeps hold until the carrier gets there (Laws 14.1 to 14.3). If Blue's defenders hold the number 8 up instead, there is no tackle, and if a Red team-mate binds on while a Blue defender is bound to him, the passage turns into a maul (Step 4).

The tackle now has a height limit written into its first clause. After World Rugby's Council approved community tackle-height wordings on 17 June 2026, Law 14.1 names two sanction lines: the line of the shoulders in elite rugby, and the waist or base of the sternum in community rugby. Tackling above the relevant line in open field play, or any tackle that leads to head contact, is dangerous tackling under Law 9.13.

Step 2: the first two seconds

Once the number 8 is down, everybody at the tackle has a duty, and every one of them exists to make the ball available.

The first Blue player to arrive has a name in the laws. World Rugby's definitions call them the jackler, or stealer: the first arriving team-mate of the tackler, who must stay on their feet and contest directly for the ball. Red's support may move a jackler by pushing or driving them backwards, including by grabbing a knee or leg, but may not roll, pull or twist them, and may not drop their weight onto an opponent or target the lower limbs (Law 9.20). That wording took effect on 1 July 2024 to remove what the laws now define as the crocodile roll.

Step 3: a ruck forms

A Red forward drives over the ball and meets a Blue forward chest to chest. Both are on their feet, in contact and over the ball: the tackle has become a ruck, which can only happen in the field of play.

The ruck changes the rules of engagement:

• Joining. From behind your offside line, alongside but not in front of the hindmost player, and binding onto a team-mate or opponent before or at the same time as any other contact (Laws 15.5 to 15.7). Contact without a bind counts as charging under Law 9.20a. A March 2026 clarification told disciplinary panels that most red cards at the breakdown belong under that clause, typically a player arriving at speed with no grasp or bind.
• Hands. Off the ball, unless you got them on it before the ruck formed and have stayed on your feet (Law 15.11). This single clause is why a jackler who wins the race to the ball can keep contesting, while a player who arrives a moment later cannot.
• Body position. Heads and shoulders no lower than hips, and every player caught in or bound to the ruck rather than standing alongside it (Laws 15.3 and 15.13).
• Feet. Players may ruck the ball back with their feet, safely, but may not kick it out of the ruck, pick it up with their legs, deliberately step on anyone or fall onto the ball as it emerges (Laws 15.14 and 15.16).

When Red has clearly won the ball and it is available, the referee calls "use it", and Red then has five seconds to play it away or concede a scrum (Law 15.17). A global law trial introduced from 1 January 2025 also protects the player picking it up: anyone who is or was part of the ruck may not play an opponent who is within a metre of it and trying to play the ball away (Law 15.18). World Rugby's laws site still marks that clause as a trial.

The ruck ends when the ball leaves it, when the player playing it away has lifted it from the ground, or when the ball reaches the try line (Law 15.19).

What referees allow once the contest is over

Read literally, Law 15.11 forbids a scrum-half from reaching beyond the back foot of a ruck to move the ball with their hands. In a June 2026 clarification, World Rugby's designated members accepted that such actions "do appear to contravene the pure law wordings", but said there is no material offence once the contest for the ball is clearly over, so officials should favour continuity. The same clarification reminded referees to call "use it" as soon as the ball is won.

A different 2025 clarification goes the other way near the try line. A scrum-half who dives over a ruck to score and makes contact with players already on the ground can be penalised for jumping on top of a ruck, or for reckless play.

Step 4: or a maul

Rewind to the tackle. Suppose Blue holds the number 8 up and a Red forward binds on, with a Blue defender also bound in. That is a maul: a ball-carrier and at least one player from each team, bound together and on their feet (Law 16.2).

The last row has one exception worth knowing: if a maul forms straight after a player catches an opponent's kick in open play and then fails, the scrum goes to the catcher's team (Law 16.19).

The lineout maul

The driving maul from a lineout is the same law with a set-piece start. World Rugby's Law Application Guideline on the maul, applicable to new competitions from 1 June 2026, spells out several points. Lifters must not step in front of the jumper as they bring them down, because opponents need access to tackle or drive on the ball-carrier; otherwise it is obstruction. Handing the ball back to a team-mate further back in the maul, with other players in front of it, is prohibited as a long-arm or sideways transfer, sometimes called a shift drive. And a player bound on the outside who loses dominance and ends up in a position to drag or pull must leave the maul or be penalised. "Bound", the guideline repeats, means the whole arm in contact from hand to shoulder.