Laws Talk. New for 2025

• By Scott MacLean

There’s nothing drastic, but rugby will look a little different in parts this year as World Rugby – and to a lesser extent New Zealand Rugby – continue to make tweaks to improve player safety and game flow. Let’s look at what those are.

The first group are Laws which came into effect last July, and while they were used in representative rugby this will be the first time they’ve been used at club and college level:

• Offside in front of the kicker. Otherwise known as the “Dupont Law” for the French halfback, players in front of a teammate who kicks the ball now must retire (e.g. move backwards) until they reach a subsequent offside line or are put onside by either the kicker or another teammate who was behind the kicker. Players can no longer remain stationary until put onside.
• Banning the “Crocodile Roll”, or the practice levering opponents sideways out of the tackle under the guise of ‘cleaning out’. This action, which involves the ‘cleaner’ using their weight to move an opponent and often landing on and/or twisting the opponent’s legs, has been blamed for a raft of serious injuries. Referees are asked to judge the degree of danger in the same way they do for contact with the head, and to red card offenders where that danger is high. Additionally, the practice of pulling an opponent through the ruck has also been banned.
• Removing the scrum option at free kick. Teams will no longer be able to take the option of a scrum when awarded a free kick, in order to speed up the game and increase ball in play time. This includes when a free kick is awarded at a scrum (e.g. early push). Teams awarded a free kick at a lineout (e.g. not matching numbers, closing the gap) will still have the option of a lineout as they do now, but not a scrum.

The second group are Global Law Trials which came into effect in January:

• Conversions are now to be taken within 60 seconds of the try being awarded, but – in a change – the same ball does not have to be used. Lineouts also now need to be formed within 30 seconds, which brings it in line with the previously introduced one for scrums. In both cases, there’s discretion for referees if other events are occurring.
• Cleaner play from ruck/maul/scrum. Players who are part of a ruck or maul, or were and have not yet got back onside can no longer play the opponent (often but not always the halfback) clearing the ball. This restriction doesn’t apply to players not in the ruck or maul and are onside. At World Rugby-level this also includes restricting the halfback of the team that doesn’t win possession in a scrum from going past the tunnel, but this was in play in New Zealand last year.
• Lineout not straight. Allowing play to continue when the throw isn’t straight and the non-throwing team doesn’t contest. This has been further altered by NZ Rugby (below).

The third group are New Zealand Rugby’s own Experimental Laws, which remain in place for a second season, with the exception that the restriction on the halfback at the scrum is now full World Rugby Law.

• Lowered tackle height. The first tackler must be below the sternum. Second and subsequent tacklers may tackle above that, but must still be below the line of the shoulders
• 1.5m Scrum Push. Reducing the maximum distance that scrums can be pushed for non-Premier adult grades. The exception here is that a scrum set five metres from the tryline can still be “pushed over” by those grades, if allowed to by their own union. School scrums remain a maximum of 1.5m no matter where they are on the field
• 20-minute red cards: A player who has been sent-off (red-carded) may be replaced by a teammate after 20 minutes

The final one – lineout not straight – was brought into play in last year’s NPC and subsequently modified further for Super Rugby. New Zealand Rugby has this week approved bringing the Super Rugby trial into community rugby immediately, creating a late change ahead of the season. It means that:

• Lineout throw not straight, but opposition doesn’t equally contest = Play on
• Lineout throw not straight, but opposition contests = Free Kick to the non-throwing team. This team cannot choose to take a scrum, or another lineout.

Rugby’s evolution continues.