Assistant Referee's Guide to SA Rugby Club and Schools Rugby All Ages 2026

Every match has two assistant referees or two touch judges (Law 6.19).

• If the match organiser (for example the provincial union or the competition) appoints officials, they are assistant referees.
• If not, each team provides one touch judge.
• The match organiser may also name a reserve touch judge or reserve assistant referee, who waits in the perimeter area to take over if needed (Law 6.20).

Whoever provides them, the touch judges work under the referee's control (Law 6.21).

It depends on your role. Under SA Rugby's BokSmart regulations (which apply at all levels of rugby):

• Assistant referees must be BokSmart certified and licensed to officiate (regulation 4).
• Normal touch judges who are not qualified referees and simply monitor the touchline are exempt (regulation 4.1).
• If an assistant referee is not certified, or cannot prove it, the match is abandoned for safety reasons unless a certified replacement who can prove certification is available (regulation 6).
• The referee's report, due within 72 hours, records each assistant referee's full name, contact number and BokSmart certification code (regulations 14 and 15).
• An assistant referee who officiates uncertified faces a minimum 3-match suspension, and stays suspended until certified (regulation 18.1).

Certification lasts two years and is renewed by completing the latest BokSmart course, with a two-month grace period after expiry (regulations 12 and 13).

Under World Rugby Law 6, assistant referees and touch judges both:

• judge whether the ball has gone into touch, touch-in-goal or dead
• signal where on the touchline the lineout or throw is to be taken
• signal which team throws in
• judge whether a kick at goal is successful

You carry a flag (or something similar) to signal (Law 6.24) and stay in touch, one on each side of the ground, except when judging a kick at goal (Law 6.22).

An appointed assistant referee may also, as the referee directs: signal foul play (if the match organiser allows it), report it verbally, recommend a sanction when asked, and help with any of the referee's other duties, such as lineout offside lines, the 5 m channel, in-goal decisions and timekeeping (Law 6.13). Meet the referee before the match to agree how you will communicate and what extra duties you have.

The law (Law 6.26)

• When the ball or ball-carrier goes into touch or touch-in-goal, hold your flag up.
• Stand at the place of the throw (the mark of touch) and point to the team entitled to throw in.
• Lower the flag when the ball is thrown in, unless the thrower stepped into the field, the wrong team threw, or a quick throw was not allowed.

World Rugby's signal: raise the flag with one arm, move to the mark of touch and stand there, pointing with the other arm towards the team entitled to throw.

Practical steps from World Rugby guidance

1. Raise the flag as soon as the ball is in touch.
2. Mark where the ball crossed the line by putting your foot on the touchline.
3. Once a quick throw can no longer be taken, raise your arm on the side of the team to throw in.

The ball is in touch when a loose ball touches the touchline or anything beyond, or a held ball or the ball-carrier touches the touchline or the ground beyond (Law 18.1). A player who jumps from the field, catches the ball and lands back in the field has not gone into touch (Law 18.2).

From Law 18.8, the main cases:

The 50:22 applies only if the kicking team did not take the ball back into their own half (or a tackle, ruck or maul formed there, or an opponent touched it), and never from a kick-off or restart. As the trailing official, note where kicks are taken from so you can judge gain in ground and 50:22s.

Normally you lower the flag when the ball is thrown in. Keep it up (Law 6.26c) when:

• the thrower steps into the field of play as part of the throwing action
• the wrong team threw in
• at a quick throw, a different ball was used, or the ball was touched after it went into touch by anyone other than the player who carried it into touch or the player throwing in

A quick throw is also disallowed if a lineout had already formed (Law 18.5); a quick throw must go between the mark of touch and the thrower's own try line, parallel to or back towards it, reach the 5 m line, and be taken with both the thrower's feet outside the field of play (Law 18.4).

World Rugby guidance: tell the referee verbally, or keep your flag up, when a quick throw should not be allowed. Whether the throw was taken from the correct place is the referee's decision, not yours (Law 6.26d).

• Position: for a kick at goal you leave touch and stand in in-goal behind the goal posts, one assistant referee or touch judge at or behind each post (Laws 6.22 and 6.25). Stand where you have a clear view of the ball, the post and the crossbar.
• Successful kick: if the ball goes over the crossbar and between the posts, both of you raise your flags (Law 6.25).
• Missed kick: keep your flags down.
• Agree first: World Rugby guidance is to confirm the decision with each other before raising or not raising your flags. If you disagree, the referee makes the final decision.

This applies to conversions, penalty goals and any other kick at goal you are asked to judge. Return to touch as soon as the kick is over.

World Rugby's assistant referee guidance (the referee may ask for different positions):

Open play: leading and trailing

• Leading (play coming towards your touchline): watch the ball-carrier for foul play and judge touch on your side.
• Trailing (play moving away): stay slightly behind play and watch rucks and mauls breaking up. When the ball is kicked downfield, note where it was kicked from, in case it goes directly into touch or dead, or there is a late charge on the kicker; stay on that mark if needed.

Lineout

• On the lineout side: stay at the line of touch until the ball is thrown in.
• On the opposite side: stand on the non-throwing team's defensive line, 10 m back from the line of touch.

Scrum

• Opposite the referee: in line with the tunnel.
• Behind the referee: on the offside line of the team not throwing in, 5 m back from the hindmost foot.

Only if the match organiser has authorised assistant referees to signal foul play (Law 6.27a). Then:

1. Signal by holding the flag horizontally, pointing infield at right angles to the touchline (Law 6.27b). World Rugby guidance is to signal every incident of foul play, even if you think the referee saw it.
2. Stay in touch and keep doing all your other duties until the next stoppage (Law 6.27c).
3. Report only when the referee invites you; you may then enter the playing area (Laws 6.23 and 6.27d). Let the referee lead the conversation and give: the player's number and team, what the offence was, and where it happened.
4. If asked, recommend a sanction: admonishment, yellow card or red card. The referee may decide differently.
5. If your verbal report leads to a sending-off, give the referee a written report as soon as possible after the match; the referee passes it to the match organiser (Law 6.27e).

Apply World Rugby's Head Contact Process when assessing head contact.

A touch judge (anyone not appointed as an assistant referee by the match organiser, such as a club member provided by a team) signals only:

• touch and touch-in-goal, where the throw is and which team throws in
• whether a kick at goal is successful

A touch judge does not:

• signal foul play. Only an appointed assistant referee may do this, and only if the match organiser has authorised it (Law 6.27a).
• enter the field to report anything. Only an assistant referee may come on to report foul play, at the next stoppage and when the referee allows (Law 6.23).
• decide whether the throw-in came from the correct place. That is the referee's call (Law 6.26d).

A touch judge stays in touch throughout, except when standing behind the posts for a kick at goal (Law 6.22).

Yes. Under the World Rugby laws the referee is in charge of the assistant referees and touch judges:

• Law 6.14: the referee may alter a decision after you have raised the flag for touch or touch-in-goal, or after an assistant referee has signalled foul play.
• Law 6.21: the referee may tell you what your duties are and may overrule your decisions.
• If a touch judge is unsatisfactory, the referee may ask for them to be replaced (by the reserve touch judge or reserve assistant referee if the match organiser has named one, Law 6.20).
• If the referee believes a touch judge is guilty of misconduct, the referee can send the touch judge off and report it to the match organiser.

If you and the other assistant referee disagree about a kick at goal, the referee makes the final decision.

Your normal duties (touch, touch-in-goal, kicks at goal) apply in in-goal too. World Rugby's assistant referee guidance says the referee may also ask you to:

• advise whether the ball was grounded or held up
• indicate touch-in-goal or dead ball
• advise on the restart: 22 drop-out, goal-line drop-out or 5 m scrum

Use leading and trailing so you and the referee see the play from different angles. In open play the referee is usually in line with the ball as it nears the goal line, so get into in-goal for another view; if a maul goes over and the referee is already in in-goal, take a different angle. The referee should look to you for visual confirmation before awarding a try, and may stop play to talk to you first.

Yes. World Rugby runs an online Introduction to Assistant Refereeing module on World Rugby Passport (passport.world.rugby, under Officiating). It covers:

• the role of the assistant referee and touch judge
• working as a team of three with the referee
• signalling and communication
• positioning in open play, at lineouts, scrums and kicks at goal
• in touch and managing the throw-in
• in-goal duties
• foul play and the Head Contact Process
• liaising with the technical zone

It finishes with an exam. Remember that only an assistant referee who has been appointed by the match organiser acts as an assistant referee on the day; anyone else, however well trained, acts as a touch judge.