Key takeaways
- Go for a 50:22 only from your own half, and make sure the ball lands in the field of play first: a kick from outside your own 22 that goes out on the full gives the opposition a lineout level with where you kicked it.
- Do not pass the ball back into your own half to set up a 50:22: unless a tackle, ruck or maul has happened there or an opponent has touched the ball there, the kick will not count.
- Learn the drop-out split: missed kicks at goal and kicks that go dead through in-goal bring a 22-metre drop-out, while most attacks that end in in-goal without a try now bring a try-line drop-out.
- Call a mark only when catching an opponent's kick cleanly with a foot on or behind your own 22-metre line, and never from a kick-off or a restart after a score.
- After a team-mate kicks, chasers in front of the ball must work their way back onside: since July 2024 an opponent running or passing no longer releases them.
The 50:22 rewards a long kick from a team's own half that finds touch inside the opposition 22 after landing in the field of play: instead of the usual rule, where the other team throws into the lineout, the kicking team keeps the throw. It only counts if the kick is made from inside the kicker's own half, the ball goes into touch indirectly rather than on the full, it crosses the touchline inside the opposition 22, the team did not simply pass the ball back into its own half to set it up, and it is not a kick-off or restart. Introduced in World Rugby's 2021 law trials, it became full law on 1 July 2022.
The 50:22 is one of several laws that decide what a kick is worth. This guide covers it alongside the two kinds of drop-out, the mark and the offside rules for chasers, as they stand on World Rugby's laws site in October 2026, after the 1 July 2026 changes.
The 50:22, condition by condition
The law sits in the lineout table of Law 18.8 and in World Rugby's definitions. Read together, they set five conditions:
- Kicked from your own half. The kicker must be in their own half when the ball is kicked.
- Into touch indirectly. The ball must land on the playing area, or touch a player or the referee, before going out. A kick that flies straight into touch is not a 50:22.
- Out inside the opposition 22. What counts is where the ball crosses the touchline. World Rugby's fan explainer describes a kick that "bounces inside the opposition 22"; the law text itself only requires the ball to go indirectly into touch in the opposition's 22.
- Not manufactured. If the team took the ball back into its own half, the kick only qualifies if a tackle, ruck or maul then happened in that half, or an opponent touched the ball there. Passing back over halfway purely to set up the kick does not work.
- Not from a restart. Kick-offs and every kind of restart kick are excluded.
The lineout is then taken where the ball crossed the touchline, never within five metres of the try line.
World Rugby's explainer gives the thinking behind it: the threat of a 50:22 should make defending teams keep more players in the backfield, which leaves more space further forward for the attack.
A worked example: one kick, four outcomes
On a 100-metre field, Blue's fly-half stands 40 metres from Blue's own try line, inside Blue's half, and kicks towards the left touchline.
| What happens | Ruling | Lineout |
|---|---|---|
| The ball bounces and rolls into touch 15 metres from Red's try line | 50:22 | Blue's throw, 15 metres from Red's line |
| The ball flies out on the full at the same spot | Kicked directly into touch from outside Blue's 22: no gain in ground | Red's throw, back level with where it was kicked, 40 metres from Blue's try line |
| The ball bounces and stays in play; Red gathers it | Open play continues | None |
| Blue had passed the ball back from Red's half with no tackle, ruck or maul in Blue's half, then made the same bouncing kick | Not a 50:22 | Red's throw where the ball crossed the touchline |
The second row is the gamble in every 50:22 attempt. The same strike that wins a lineout deep in opposition territory hands the opposition the throw 45 metres closer to the kicker's own try line if it carries too far.
Who throws in after a kick to touch
The 50:22 is an exception to a wider table. These are the main cases in Law 18.8:
| Kick | Throw-in | Where the lineout is |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty kicked into touch, on the full or not | Kicking team | Where the ball crossed the touchline |
| A 50:22 | Kicking team | Where the ball crossed the touchline |
| Any other kick that goes into touch indirectly | Opposition | Where the ball crossed the touchline |
| Out on the full from outside the kicker's own 22 | Opposition | Level with where it was kicked or where it crossed, whichever is nearer the kicker's try line |
| Out on the full from inside the kicker's own 22, the team having taken the ball back into its 22 with no tackle, ruck or maul and no opponent touching it there | Opposition | Same as the row above: no gain in ground |
| Out on the full from inside the kicker's own 22 in any other case | Opposition | Where the ball crossed the touchline |
| From a free-kick awarded inside the 22 | Opposition | Where the ball crossed the touchline |
Taking the ball back means the defending team brought it into its own 22, and the law spells out two less obvious cases: a player inside the 22 picking the ball up from outside it, or catching it before it reaches the plane of the 22-metre line. Catching an opponent's kick that has already come into your 22 does not count as taking it back, which is why a defender who fields a kick there can usually find touch on the full and keep the ground.
Drop-outs: the 22 and the try line
Every restart kick is a drop-kick, and there are two kinds of drop-out (Laws 12.11 and 12.12).
| 22-metre drop-out | Try-line drop-out | |
|---|---|---|
| Taken from | On or behind the defending team's 22-metre line | On or behind the defending team's try line |
| Must cross | The 22-metre line | The five-metre line |
| Typical causes | A missed penalty goal or dropped goal made dead in in-goal by the defenders, or going dead through in-goal; a kick from the field of play that goes dead through in-goal (the defenders may choose a scrum where it was kicked instead) | An attacking player takes or kicks the ball into in-goal and fails to score; a ball held up over the line; an attacking knock forward in in-goal; a charge down that goes dead through in-goal |
The try-line drop-out started life as the goal-line drop-out, one of five global law trials that became full law on 1 July 2022, and you will still hear it called that. The current laws use "try line", and the restart is taken from 22 metres deeper than a 22-metre drop-out.
What changed on 1 July 2026
World Rugby's July 2026 update moved some in-goal scenarios from a 22-metre drop-out to a try-line drop-out. It gave two examples: a charge down from the field of play that goes dead, and a ball-carrier who carries the ball into in-goal near the corner flag and is tackled into touch-in-goal before grounding it. Both used to restart from the 22; both now restart from the try line. The update applies to competitions starting after 1 July 2026, so a league already under way when it took effect may bring it in later; World Rugby tells teams in that position to check with their union.
Taking a drop-out properly
A drop-out must be taken from the right place and without delay, must cross its sanction line, and must not go directly into touch; if it does, the receiving team can choose a retake, a scrum on the sanction line, a lineout or a quick throw. Opponents may not advance past the sanction line before the kick, and any who are in front of it must not delay or obstruct it. The kicker's team-mates must be behind the ball (Laws 12.13 to 12.19).
The mark
The mark lets a defender stop play by catching an opponent's kick. To claim one, a player must have at least one foot on or behind their own 22-metre line when catching the ball (or when landing after catching it in the air), catch it directly from an opponent's kick, after it has reached the plane of the 22-metre line and before it touches the ground or another player, and call "mark" at the same moment (Law 17.1). The ball may even hit a post or the crossbar first.
The referee stops play and awards a free-kick to the catcher's team, taken by the player who made the mark: in the 22, at the place of the mark but at least five metres from the try line; in in-goal, on the five-metre line. A mark cannot be claimed from a kick-off or a restart kick after a score, but it can be claimed after a penalty kick at goal or a dropped-goal attempt (Laws 17.3 to 17.7). Because a free-kick awarded inside the 22 can be kicked straight into touch with a gain in ground, a mark gives a defending team a clean way to clear its lines.
The kick chase, and kicking from the base
Two recent changes bear on kicking in open play, including box kicks and other kicks from the base of a ruck, maul or scrum.
Offside in front of the kicker, July 2024. Players in front of a team-mate who kicks are offside. Within ten metres of where the ball comes down they must retire immediately, and nothing the opposition does, apart from a charge down, puts them back onside (Laws 10.4c and 10.8). Players further away must not interfere, and since 1 July 2024 they must not loiter either. The same change removed two old releases: an opponent carrying the ball five metres or passing it no longer puts them onside. World Rugby's stated reason was to stop players waiting in midfield during a kicking exchange.
Protecting the kicker at the base, January 2025. A global law trial from 1 January 2025 says a player who is, or was, part of a ruck or maul may not play an opponent within a metre of it who is trying to play the ball away, and at a scrum it lets the defending scrum-half advance no further than the centre line of the tunnel. World Rugby's rationale was to protect the scrum-half and get the ball moving from the base more freely. Its July 2026 update kept these newer trials running for another season.
Kicking on the draft board
Open-play kicking and goal-kicking are different skills, and squads need both. In 24-0 Rugby Draft Pro League goal kickers are drafted as specialists alongside forwards and backs, and kicking is one of the four qualities, with scrummaging, speed and defence, that position roles reward building around. The game's description does not mention 50:22s, drop-outs or marks, so read this article as a guide to the real laws rather than to the match engine.
What a reliable goal kicker is worth across a season is covered in drafting a goal kicker, and the points behind every kicking decision are in how rugby scoring works. Rugby positions by number covers the kicking roles of the fly-half and full-back. The rest of the laws series is collected on the rugby hub, and the studio's other sports management games are listed under sports GM.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What is the 50:22 rule in rugby?
Does a 50:22 count if the ball goes out on the full?
What is the difference between a 22-metre drop-out and a try-line drop-out?
What is a mark in rugby?
What changed for in-goal restarts in July 2026?
Sources
- Law 18: Touch, quick throw and lineout (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law 12: Kick-off and restart kicks (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law 17: Mark (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law 21: In-goal (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law 10: Offside and onside in open play (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Laws of the Game: Definitions (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- 2026-07 Law updates (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law changes summary - July 2022 (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Law changes - 1 July 2024 (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Global Law Trials - 1 January 2025 (opens in a new tab)World Rugby — accessed
- Rugby explainers: what is a 50:22? (opens in a new tab)Rugby World Cup (World Rugby) — accessed
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