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50 free Rugby Rules trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Rugby union is governed by laws, not rules, and they change every year. World Rugby has rewritten restarts, clear-outs, shot clocks and cards within the last five seasons alone, so even lifelong fans can be caught out by what a referee is now allowed to do. This quiz goes past the basics of points and player counts into the next layer: what happens at a ruck and a maul, who may stand where at a scrum and a lineout, how the sin bin, bunker and red-card trials work, which number wears which shirt, and how the fifteen-a-side laws differ from sevens and rugby league. It suits pub-quiz setters, club players brushing up before the season, and anyone who has ever shouted at a television without quite knowing why the whistle went.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In rugby union, a yellow card sends a player to the sin bin for how many minutes of playing time?
10
10 minutes of playing time, and the sin-bin clock freezes whenever the match clock stops, so a stoppage-filled spell drags the punishment out.
Q 02A rugby union penalty try is always awarded under the posts; how many points does it score with no kick taken?
7
7 points, because since 1 January 2017 the conversion is simply assumed rather than kicked, and the offender is sin-binned or sent off as well.
Q 03In fifteen-a-side rugby union, after a try has been converted, who restarts play with a drop kick from halfway?
The team that conceded
The team that conceded kicks off in fifteens, handing the ball straight back to the attack, and the restart must travel at least 10 metres into the opposition half.
Q 04Under rugby union's 50:22 law, what does a kick from your own half that bounces into touch in the opposition 22 earn?
The lineout throw-in
The lineout throw-in goes to the kicking side, the reward that made the law worth learning: trialled in 2021 to pull defenders out of the line, it became full law on 1 July 2022.
Q 05What cadence has the rugby union referee called to engage a scrum since the 2013–14 season?
Crouch, bind, set
Crouch, bind, set followed a one-season trial of 'crouch, touch, set', which had itself replaced the four-word 'crouch, touch, pause, engage'; the props must now grip each other before the hit rather than slam in from a gap.
Q 06In which year did rugby union raise the try to its current value, the second increase after 1971?
1992
1992, three years before the game went professional; the try had been worth three points from 1893 until the 1971 rise to four, and five ever since.
Q 07Lifting a jumper in the rugby union lineout, long an offence, was written into the laws in which year?
1999
1999, and the change turned the lineout from an unsupported leap into a choreographed hoist, with a jumper now protected from being tackled while off the ground.
Q 08Rugby union formally adopted the sin bin for yellow-carded players in which year, two decades after rugby league?
2001
2001, a full twenty years after Australia's rugby league competition started sending players off temporarily, and the same year professional touch judges became assistant referees.
Q 09What may a rugby union team given a penalty do that one given a free kick for a technical offence may not?
Aim at the posts
Aim at the posts is the penalty's privilege; a free kick also hands the lineout throw to the other side when it goes to touch, so it is worth far less than a penalty.
Q 10How far apart are the two uprights of a rugby union goal, whose crossbar stands three metres above the ground?
5.6 m
5.6 m apart, so a rugby goal is narrower than a soccer goal's 7.32 metres, but its crossbar sits more than half a metre higher than a soccer crossbar.
Q 11Catching an opponent's kick cleanly in their own 22, which word does a rugby union player shout to win a free kick?
Mark
Mark, shouted as the catch is made, stops play dead and gives the catcher a free kick from the spot, a relic of the game's oldest laws that American football kept as the 'fair catch'.
Q 12Since July 2022, what restarts a rugby union match when an attacker carrying the ball is held up and cannot ground it?
A goal-line drop-out
A goal-line drop-out by the defending side replaced the old five-metre scrum, a change made to reward defences for holding out and to cut the pick-and-go sieges near the line; World Rugby renamed it the try-line drop-out in July 2026.
Q 13Once a rugby union ruck has formed over a ball on the ground, what may no arriving player do to win it?
Q 21Which rugby union forward, wearing number 1, has their head on the outside of the scrum when the front rows engage?
Loosehead prop
Loosehead prop is the name because one ear is free on the outside, while the tighthead opposite has their head wedged between two opponents for the whole scrum.
Q 22Which rugby union forward, wearing number 6, packs on the side of the scrum nearer the touchline?
Blindside flanker
Blindside flanker covers the short side where the ball is least likely to go, so the number 6 is usually the bigger, more physical of the two flankers.
Q 23Since which year has the 1-to-15 shirt numbering, prop to full-back, been standardised for rugby union internationals?
1967
Handle it
Handle it is banned the instant the ruck forms, which is why the 'jackal' must get his hands on the ball before an opponent arrives and then stay on his feet.
Q 14After the referee calls 'use it' at a rugby union ruck, within how many seconds must the ball be played away?
5
5 seconds, or the put-in goes to the other side, a sanction written into the maul law as well so that a team cannot sit on the ball to run the clock down.
Q 15When a rugby union maul stops moving forward and the ball is unplayable, which side gets the scrum feed?
Team not in possession
Team not in possession gets the put-in, the rule that makes a stalled maul a turnover, so a defence that can only hold a drive still, not sack it, is happy to wait.
Q 16What nickname do referees give a rugby union rolling maul with the ball carrier riding at the back?
Truck and trailer
Truck and trailer describes the drive with the ball carrier towed behind it, and if he is not actually bound to the 'truck' the referee penalises obstruction.
Q 17When a contested rugby union lineout is not straight, what does the non-throwing side get to choose between?
Scrum or retaken throw
Scrum or retaken throw, with the scrum set 15 metres infield; the choice belongs to the non-throwing side because the crooked delivery robbed them of a fair jump.
Q 18Before a rugby union lineout has formed, what may a player take from the touchline to restart play at once?
A quick throw-in
A quick throw-in, and since the 2008 law trials it may go straight or backwards, which is why a winger fielding a kick near touch will whip it back in before the forwards arrive.
Q 19At a rugby union scrum, which players are exempt from the five-metre offside line that every other back must respect?
The two number nines
The two number nines may stand at the scrum itself, one feeding and one shadowing, a concession made permanent after the 2008 trial laws pushed everyone else back.
Q 20What restarts play after an accidental rugby union knock-on, the ball going forward off a hand or arm?
A scrum to the opposition
A scrum to the opposition follows the commonest error in the game, but knock the ball forward on purpose and it becomes a penalty plus a yellow card.
1967, although until 1960-61 England, Scotland and Wales had numbered the other way round, with the full-back wearing 1 and the number eight wearing 15.
Q 24How many replacements may each team name for a rugby union international?
8
8 replacements fill shirts 16 to 23, which is why modern coaches talk of a 'bomb squad' of fresh forwards held back for the final half-hour.
Q 25Besides the referee, how many on-field assistant referees, formerly called touch judges, officiate a rugby union match?
2
2 assistant referees, who at professional level are qualified referees themselves and report foul play and offside rather than merely flagging touch and kicks at goal.
Q 26In rugby union, what do the letters TMO stand for, a role whose remit has grown to foul play, knock-ons and offside?
Television Match Official
Television Match Official, a role that began by answering only one question, whether the ball was grounded in-goal, and from July 2026 is a formal part of the officiating team in law.
Q 27What does a rugby union referee do to signal that a yellow card is going to the Foul Play Review 'bunker'?
Cross his arms
Cross his arms, and a review officer then has up to eight minutes to decide whether the yellow stands or becomes a red, a routine used at all 48 matches of the 2023 World Cup.
Q 28Under the 20-minute red card that World Rugby sent to global trial in 2025, what happens once those 20 minutes are up?
A replacement comes on
A replacement comes on, but the offender himself never returns, and deliberate or highly dangerous foul play still draws a full red card; from 1 July 2026 the replacement red card is full law in the elite game.
Q 29Which clear-out, rolling or twisting a player off his feet at the tackle area, did World Rugby outlaw from July 2024?
Crocodile roll
Crocodile roll, named for the way the jackaller is spun to the ground by the torso, now costs a penalty because the twist was causing serious leg injuries.
Q 30From July 2024, what can no longer put an offside rugby union player back onside after a teammate has kicked ahead?
An opponent running five metres
An opponent running five metres, or passing, used to play the whole chasing line onside, a loophole that rewarded loitering and fuelled endless kick tennis until Law 10.7 was rewritten.