What happens when the ball goes into the in-goal area but no try is scored?
A · Advanced · Set pieces and discipline · 1 of 1It depends on who put it there. If an attacker took or kicked the ball in and a defender makes it dead, the defenders restart with a drop-out from their 22-metre line. If an attacker carries it in and is held up, unable to ground it, sevens gives the attacking team a scrum five metres out.
How it works
- In-goal: the area between the try line and the dead-ball line. The try line is part of it.
- A try: the attacker is first to ground the ball there.
- Held up: "When a player carrying the ball is held up in the in-goal so that the player cannot ground or play the ball, the ball is dead."
- In sevens: "Play restarts with a five-metre scrum, in line with the place where the player was held up. The attacking team throws in."
- Made dead by a defender: "if the ball is played or taken into in-goal by an attacking player and is made dead by an opponent, play is restarted with a 22-metre drop-out".
- Not from a kick-off: that drop-out rule does not apply at a kick-off or restart kick.
- A kick-off into in-goal: grounded at once or gone dead, a free-kick to the receiving team.
- A missed kick at goal: the restart kick that follows must be taken within 30 seconds.
- The drop-out: a drop kick taken on or behind the 22-metre line.
- Offences in in-goal: a penalty or free-kick is taken five metres out from the try line.
- In-goal judges: in sevens one stands in each in-goal to help with kicks, touch-in-goal and tries.
The glossary has the in-goal area, the try line, the dead-ball line, the drop-out, the touch down entry and the grounding the ball entry.
Tricky cases
An attacker chips ahead, the ball rolls into in-goal and a defender touches it down. What is the restart?
A 22-metre drop-out to the defending team.
A ball-carrier is tackled over the line and lands on a defender's leg without the ball touching the ground. Try?
No. The ball must be grounded. If the carrier cannot ground or play it, they are held up and the attacking team has a five-metre scrum.
In fifteens a held-up attacker's team loses the ball to a drop-out. Is sevens the same?
No. The sevens variation replaces that with a five-metre scrum to the attacking team.
A defender carries the ball back into their own in-goal and touches it down. What happens?
A five-metre scrum to the attacking team, which throws in. The law's scrum table gives that restart whenever the defending team takes the ball into in-goal and makes it dead.
Why the rule exists
The in-goal restarts follow one idea: the side that put the ball into in-goal bears the result. An attacker who kicks too far gives up the ball. In sevens an attacker who is held up keeps the throw at a scrum, which is a little kinder to the attack than the fifteen-a-side drop-out.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sevens, held up | Five-metre scrum, attacking team throws in | WR Sevens Law 21.16 |
| Fifteens, held up | Try-line drop-out or five-metre scrum, by how the ball entered in-goal | WR Law 21.16 |
| Attacker puts the ball in, defender makes it dead | 22-metre drop-out | WR Sevens Law 12.11 |
| Kick-off into in-goal, sevens | Free-kick | WR Sevens Law 12.9 |
From the rule book
World Rugby, Laws of the Game: Rugby Union 2026, Laws 12 and 21 and Law variations: Sevens, Laws 6, 12 and 21. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: Laws of the Game, Rugby Union 2026 (PDF).