Coach's Guide to SA Rugby Junior Rugby U13-U19 2026

SA Rugby's February 2025 playing-time directive for school rugby:

• Running time is continuous: the clock does not stop for injuries or other stoppages.
• Playing time excludes time lost to stoppages, as in World Rugby Law 5.
• Under Law 5.3, the match organisers may agree to shorten a match.

SA Rugby's February 2025 replacements format for high and primary school rugby:

Squad minimum: a squad of 23 must include 6 front-row players, and you must be able to replace the loosehead prop, hooker and tighthead prop at the first time of asking.

Option 1 (if both schools agree beforehand)

• Unlimited replacements.
• The bench must include a suitably trained loosehead, tighthead and hooker.
• A player who was tactically replaced may come back on.

Option 2 (league matches, or where the schools don't agree)

• 8 replacements (high school only), three of whom must be a suitably trained loosehead, tighthead and hooker. A team with only two front-row replacements, or a squad of 22, may name only 7 replacements.
• or 12 rolling replacements (the format used in primary school), three of whom must be trained front-row players. A tactically replaced player may come back on.

Competition rules can set which option applies. Any other deviation needs prior approval from the SA Rugby Community Referee Manager.

SA Rugby's February 2025 directive on high and primary school matches says that when scrums become uncontested, the team that caused it plays short, using the Uncontested Scrum Reduction Table:

• Uncontested because of a contact injury: the team is reduced to 14.
• Uncontested because of a yellow or red card: the team is reduced to 13. The same applies to a contact injury after an earlier card.
• Uncontested because of a second card after an earlier yellow or red card: the team is reduced to 12.
• No reduction when the front-row loss that makes scrums uncontested is caused by a confirmed or suspected concussion, a blood injury, or foul play (a penalty confirmed by the referee as a foul-play injury).

Uncontested scrums are still played with eight players a side.

The reduction table does not apply to primary school rugby. The directive notes that the BokSmart Rugby Safety Programme always applies.

SA Rugby's Scrum Law Modifications (updated January 2026):

At all these ages:

• Props must bind with their elbows no lower than their shoulder line.
• No deliberate wheeling. If a scrum wheels past 45°, the referee stops play and orders a new scrum, with no turnover.
• Uncontested scrums caused by a card or injury must still be played with eight players a side.
• If the packs are mismatched or unsuitable, the referee should order uncontested scrums. At U18 and U19, the World Rugby laws are applied first.

U13 is primary school rugby, so SA Rugby's 2025 Primary School Law Variations apply on top of the World Rugby laws:

Lineout

• All seven trained forwards (positions 1 and 3 to 8) must form the lineout. No short lineouts, and no swapping between forwards and backs. Fewer than seven is allowed only once replacements run out; the opponents must still use seven. Sanction: free kick.
• Only a back may be the receiver, and the receiver may not swap places with a lineout player before the throw.
• The throw must travel at least 3 metres.
• A jumper who wins the ball and lands safely may not be sacked. A maul must form, and all lineout players except the receivers must join it.
• Players not in the lineout stay 5 metres back.

Maul

• Once a maul has moved forward more than 10 metres, the referee calls "Play". If the ball does not come out, the maul ends and the attacking team gets a scrum.

Scrum

• Only trained forwards may scrum. Flankers bind on a lock with at least one arm, and the No. 8 binds between the locks.
• The hooker must make a clear strike once the ball touches the ground (free kick).
• Push no more than 1.5 m, and no turnover scrums.

Other

• Two halves of 25 minutes running time, a 5-minute half-time, and a size 4 ball.
• Players are barefoot. Mouthguards are compulsory in provincial teams.
• Yellow card: 5 minutes. Up to 12 rolling interchanges.
• No roaming coach is allowed at U13.

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.

Tackler (open play)

• The maximum legal tackle height is below the base of the sternum. Target the belly and thighs, and avoid the knees.
• A tackle below the knees is legal only with a clear wrap of the arms around the legs; an attempted wrap is not enough.
• Double tackles and second tacklers must also tackle at or below the base of the sternum.
• Between the shoulder line and the base of the sternum: mainly penalty kicks. Above the shoulder line: the Head Contact Process applies, with yellow and red cards.

Ball carrier (open play)

• May brace and lower their body, but may not run with the body fully bent or horizontal, with the head lower than the hips, or lead head-first into contact. This is sanctioned with a penalty kick, rising to cards for head-to-head contact.
• No "cannon-arm": using a hand on the ground to propel into contact at a pick-and-drive.
• A pick-and-drive in a low body position is allowed. A latcher may bind on only once the carrier has made contact with a defender.

At U13, the Primary School Law Variations also set the tackle height below the base of the sternum and above the knees (penalty kick) and ban the sling tackle.

SA Rugby's School Rugby Age-Banding Regulations (January 2026) set the age group by the age a player turns during the calendar year. Nobody may play in an age group if they are older than its limit, so playing down is not allowed.

U13 (primary school): two-year band, no exceptions. A player may be at most two years younger than the oldest age in the group, so U13 players are turning 12 or 13 that year.

U14 to U18 (high school): two-year band, extendable to three years for an individual player. For example, a player turning 16 could play U18, but only if:

• the coach holds at least a World Rugby Level 2 coaching qualification and active BokSmart certification, and
• Schedule A (the two-year exemption and consent form, signed by the coach, a parent or guardian, and the provincial union's manager of schools rugby) is accepted before the player trains or plays with the older team. Front-row players also need Schedule B, and Schedule C where it applies.

The coach must answer "Yes" to every question on physical development, skill, experience and safety risk, and must have completed the BokSmart pre-participation screening with the player.

The three-year band is the absolute limit. A whole team may not enter an older age group's league.

SA Rugby treats the front row, especially hooker, as the highest-risk position for catastrophic neck injury. A younger high-school player may not train or play in a higher age group at loosehead, hooker or tighthead until Schedules A and B (and Schedule C where it applies) have been accepted by the provincial union.

Schedule B asks the World Rugby Level 2 coach, with the player and parents, about:

• front-row playing history over the last two seasons, and whether the player missed games with a significant head, neck or spine injury
• specialised front-row coaching and conditioning over the last two years
• strength and conditioning (more than twice a week), neck strengthening (more than twice a week), a pre-season programme of more than a month, plus weight, height and bench-press 1RM

Schedule C applies where the player did not play in the front row last year, did not play a full season there, or lacks specialised front-row coaching or conditioning in the last two years. The coach must confirm that, in the 8 weeks before, the player has done position-specific neck strengthening, progressive live scrum training (e.g. 1v1 up to 8v8) and scrum-specific conditioning.

Apart from the answers that send a player to Schedule C, any "No" on Schedule B, or a "Yes" to missing games with a significant head, neck or spine injury, means the player should not be cleared. On Schedule C, any "No" means the same.

Under SA Rugby's School Rugby Age-Banding Regulations (January 2026), school U19 is the only age group with an automatic three-year age band:

• Players may be turning 17, 18 or 19 during the year. Most will be turning 17 or 18.
• No player turning 20 or older that year may play.
• A front-row player (prop or hooker) outside the normal two-year band, i.e. turning 17 that year, must complete Schedules A and B, plus Schedule C where it applies, before playing U19 in the front row.
• Against an U18 school team, an U19 side may not field anyone turning 19 that year, or who has already turned 19. The fixture becomes an U18 match.

Schools are encouraged to run an U16 team (or U17 in schools playing U19 leagues), so that younger players do not need to play U18 or U19.

Under SA Rugby's regulations for the BokSmart Rugby Safety Programme:

• Everyone who coaches or assists in coaching a team must be BokSmart certified.
• Certification is valid for 2 years. Renew it by completing the latest BokSmart course; there is a 2-month grace period after the expiry date on your licence card.
• Show your proof of certification to the referee at least 15 minutes before kick-off.

If you are not compliant:

• Not certified: the match is abandoned.
• Certified but without proof on the day: the match goes ahead, but you may not be on or next to the playing area, and you must produce your licence on the first working day after the match.
• Penalties: a coach who takes a team onto the field without certification gets at least a 3-match suspension, which lasts until they are certified. A host school or club that lets the match go ahead forfeits the match and its log points.

For players playing up an age group, the coach who assesses them must also hold a World Rugby Level 2 coaching qualification and have active BokSmart certification.

SA Rugby's Concussion Regulations (updated December 2025) apply to all players, and ask for extra caution with players under 19:

1. Recognise and Remove: take the player out of the match or training immediately and permanently. They may not return that day. In amateur rugby the referee can show a Blue Card.
2. A medical doctor should diagnose the concussion.
3. 24 to 48 hours of physical and cognitive rest, then light activity that does not worsen symptoms.
4. At least 2 weeks with no contact rugby, even if the player feels fine.
5. A graduated return to play programme. The player must be symptom free before the high-intensity stages, and needs a doctor's clearance before full-contact training.
6. Earliest return to a match: 21 days after the injury. The only exception is a player managed by an SA Rugby or World Rugby recognised Advanced Care Concussion Doctor, who may return after no less than 14 days.

The off-field Head Injury Assessment (HIA) is not used in school or junior rugby. It is only for World Rugby-approved elite adult competitions.