Captain's Guide to SA Rugby Club Rugby Senior 2026

Under World Rugby Law 20 (Laws of the Game 2026), a team awarded a penalty may:

• Kick: punt, drop-kick, or place-kick (a place kick is not allowed when kicking for touch), in any direction. Kicking at goal is one option.
• Tap and run: the ball must be kicked a visible distance.
• Choose a scrum instead.
• Choose a lineout or a scrum at the same mark, if the penalty was awarded at a lineout.

The kick is taken at or behind the mark, on a line through it parallel to the touchlines, and without delay. Any player in your team may take it. The laws define the captain as the player who selects options relating to referee decisions, so the referee will look to you for the choice.

Under World Rugby Law 8.18 to 8.24 (Laws of the Game 2026):

• Indicate your intention to kick at goal without delay.
• You can tell the referee, or the intention is signalled when the kicking tee or sand arrives, or when the kicker makes a mark on the ground.
• Once you have indicated it, you must kick at goal. Otherwise the kick is disallowed and a scrum is awarded.
• The kick must be taken within 60 seconds (playing time) of indicating, even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. Otherwise the kick is disallowed and a scrum is awarded.
• Once the kicker has indicated a kick at goal, the opposition must stand still with their hands by their sides from the start of the kicker's approach until the ball is kicked.
• If the kicker has not indicated a kick at goal but drop-kicks a goal, the goal stands.

Under World Rugby Law 7 (Advantage), if the offending team commits a second or further infringement from which no advantage can be gained, the referee stops play and lets the captain of the non-offending team choose the most advantageous sanction.

If the non-offending team infringes before it has gained an advantage, the referee stops play and applies the sanction for the first infringement. If foul play is involved, the referee also applies the sanction for it.

Under World Rugby Law 9.8 to 9.10:

• A team must not repeatedly commit the same offence, and a player must not repeatedly infringe the laws. Sanction: penalty.
• When different players in the same team keep committing the same offence, the referee gives the team a general caution (often called a team warning).
• If the team then repeats the offence, the referee shows a yellow card to the guilty player or players.

After a general caution, pass the message on to your team: the next player to commit that offence can expect a yellow card.

Under World Rugby Law 9.29 and 9.30 (Laws of the Game 2026):

• Yellow card: the player is suspended for 10 minutes. A second yellow-card offence by the same player means they are sent off, and play restarts with a penalty.
• Red card: the player takes no further part in the match and may not be replaced.

The 20-minute red card, where a sent-off player may be replaced after 20 minutes, applies to elite rugby only. It is not used in club rugby.

In SA amateur rugby, the referee may also show a Blue Card. It signals that a player is being removed for a concussion or suspected concussion and may not return to the match.

Under World Rugby Law 3.13 to 3.18:

• When a front-row player leaves the field (injury, yellow card or red card), the referee asks at the next scrum whether your team can continue with contested scrums. If you say you can't, the referee orders uncontested scrums.
• Scrums also become uncontested if either team cannot field a suitably trained front row, or if the referee orders it.
• Uncontested scrums caused by a send-off, yellow card or injury must still be played with eight players a side.
• If the player comes back, or another front-row player comes on, contested scrums may resume.
• Another player may play in the front row only when no replacement front-row player is available.
• At the match organiser's discretion, a player whose departure caused uncontested scrums may not be replaced, and a further player may have to be removed.

SA Rugby's Scrum Law Modifications also require uncontested scrums in adult rugby to be played eight a side.

Under World Rugby Law 3.3, a team may object to the referee about the number of players in the opposing team.

• If the opposition has too many players, the referee orders their captain to reduce the number.
• The score at the time of the objection stands.
• The sanction is a penalty.

Under Law 3.1, each team may have no more than 15 players in the playing area during play, although a match organiser may allow matches with fewer players a side.

SA Rugby's lowered tackle-height laws have applied to all school and club rugby since 2024. They do not apply to senior professional rugby.

Tacklers (open play)

• Tackle below the base of the sternum. A tackle below the knees needs a clear wrap of the arms.
• Second tacklers in a double tackle must also stay at or below the base of the sternum.
• Contact between the base of the sternum and the shoulder line is mainly a penalty. Contact above the shoulder line goes through the Head Contact Process, with yellow or red cards.

Ball carriers (open play)

• You may brace for contact, but may not run with your body fully bent or horizontal, with your head below your hips, or lead head-first into contact.
• No "cannon-arm" (going to ground early to propel yourself into contact) at a pick-and-drive.
• Denying the tackler a safe target is a penalty. Head-to-head contact can escalate to cards.

Under SA Rugby's BokSmart regulations and BokSmart's minimum ("Green") safety standards for club matches:

• Your coach must show the referee proof of BokSmart certification at least 15 minutes before kick-off. If a coach is not certified at all, the match is abandoned. A certified coach without proof must stay away from the playing area.
• Home team: your management must prepare an emergency action plan and present it to the referee before the match. The referee confirms that the safety requirements are met before allowing play.
• At least one person trained in emergency field-side care (a first aider or paramedic) per match or field, plus a spinal board and harness and cervical collars and head blocks.
• Anyone other than players and qualified medical staff who wants to enter the playing area must show BokSmart certification.

A host club that lets a match go ahead with an uncertified coach or referee forfeits the match.