Maul - June 2026

Applicable for new competitions from 1 June 2026 (opening of international window ahead of Nations Cup/Championships.)

The maul (including those formed at a lineout) continues to be a key contestable area of rugby union, and everyone is committed to that being maintained. Players in a maul should be contesting for possession of the ball, or pushing/driving to gain or defend field position. 

This guideline reinforces those philosophies. 

Maul

The purpose of the maul is set in law: “to allow players to compete for the ball, which is held off the ground.”

If a team wishes to form a maul, or to defend a maul, they must do so legally:

• Law 9.3:  A player must not intentionally prevent an opponent from tackling or attempting to tackle the ball-carrier. Sanction: Penalty.
  • At a lineout, lifters must not step in front of the jumper when they bring them to ground. There must be “access” for the opponents to tackle or drive on the jumper (ball carrier) when they get to ground, otherwise, this is obstruction.
• Law 16.2: A player ripping the ball from the ball carrier must stay in contact with that player until they have transferred the ball. Sanction: Penalty.  
  • This prohibits what is known as a long-arm transfer or sideways transfer (shift drive) where the ball is handed back to a teammate further back in the maul, with other players in front which creates an obstruction.
• Law 16.3: Once formed, a maul must move towards a try line.
  • The intention of a maul is for a contest with both teams pushing towards the opposition try line.
• Law 16.5: A player must either join a maul from an onside position or retire behind their offside line immediately. Sanction: Penalty.
• Law 16.7 Players joining a maul must: a. Do so from an onside position, and b. Bind on to the hindmost player in the maul. Sanction: Penalty.
  • This applies to both attackers and defenders. The attack are liable to sanction if players running in late join the maul ahead of the hindmost player.
  • Players must join onto the hindmost player who is already in the maul. They cannot create a chain of two or more players and swing up into the opposition side of the maul. (See Law Clarification 3-2021 relating to ruck entry.)
• Law 16.10 All players in a maul must be caught in or bound to it and not just alongside it. A player in possession of the ball must not slide or move backwards in the maul. Sanction: Penalty
  • If teams wish to keep the ball at the back of the maul as additional players join, the ball should be passed/transferred back to the hindmost player.
• Law 16.11 Players must not: a. Intentionally collapse a maul or jump on top of it or b. Attempt to drag an opponent out of a maul. Sanction: Penalty.
  • Dragging (or pulling) actions during a maul are liable to sanction.

If a player is bound to the maul, or bound into it by others (“caught in”), and involved in a contest for the ball or the space around the ball, they can continue that contest or push/drive the maul towards the try line. 

“Bound” means grasping another player’s body (who is already in the maul) between the shoulders and hips with the whole arm in contact from hand to shoulder.

Players on the outside of the maul must not lose their original binding, and/or swing around the lifter or the maul structure to end up on the attacking team’s side without engaging in the contest for the ball or space around the ball. They must not be in a position to pull/drag the maul.

If a player stays dominant in the maul and remains legally bound with their arms and shoulders, they can keep competing for the ball or space. Once they lose dominance and move to be in a position to drag or pull, they should leave the maul or be sanctioned accordingly. 

When players are no longer in a legal position, they should leave the maul immediately and rejoin the maul from their own side (behind or alongside the hindmost player), or join their offside line. 

Offside lines – Maul

A maul in open play

• Law 16.4: Each team has an offside line that runs parallel to the try line through the maul participants’ hindmost foot that is nearest to that team’s try line. If that foot is on or behind the try line, the offside line for that team is the try line.

A maul formed during a lineout

• Law 18.32: Until the ball is thrown in, and has touched the player or the ground, the offside line for lineout players is the mark of touch. After that, their offside line is a line through the ball.
• Law 18.33: When a ruck or maul forms at the mark of touch, a participating player may either: a) join the ruck or maul; or b) Retire to the offside line which is the hindmost foot of that player’s team in the ruck or maul.
• Law 18.37: The lineout ends when b) A ruck or maul forms and all of the feet of all of the players in the ruck or maul move beyond the mark of touch.

Therefore, any player who moves past the ball while a maul is forming; joins the maul ahead of the ball, or remains ahead of the hindmost foot at the maul, is offside.

Mauls in open play

For mauls formed in open play, the philosophy that a maul is a contest for possession should drive match official decision-making. A player on the outside of the maul should have joined legally and remain bound on (law 16.7); they should be directly contesting possession or pushing/driving the maul, they must not be dragging/pulling an opponent out of that maul (law 16.11), and they must not interfere with the player waiting to play the ball away (law 16.18).