How do replacements and substitutions work?

These rules come from Law 3 of the 2026 Laws of the Game.

• How many: in club matches, the match organizer (your league or union) decides how many replacements a team may name, up to a maximum of eight.
• When: replacements come on only when the ball is dead, and only with the referee's permission.
• Injured players: a player replaced because of injury can't come back on.
• Blood injuries: a bleeding player leaves the field and can be temporarily replaced. They can return once the bleeding is controlled or covered. If they aren't back within 15 minutes (actual time), the replacement becomes permanent.
• Tactically replaced players can come back on only to replace:
  • an injured front-rower
  • a player with a blood injury or a head injury
  • a player just injured by foul play, as confirmed by the match officials
  • a player who has to leave the field so a front-rower can come on after a front-rower is carded or there's no other front-row cover
• Rolling replacements: a match organizer may allow rolling interchanges at its level of the game, with no more than 12 interchanges. The organizer sets the details.