What is advantage?
Advantage is Law 7 of World Rugby's Laws of the Game. When one team commits an offence, the referee may allow play to continue if the other team gains an advantage from it. The law gives the reason plainly: to keep the game flowing. The Laws of the Game define advantage as a clear and real tactical or territorial benefit arising after an infringement by the opposition.
The law says the referee may play advantage, not that they must, and it is the referee who judges whether an advantage has come. The referee, alongside the other appointed match officials, is the sole judge of fact and of law during a match.
How does the referee signal advantage?
The referee holds an arm straight out at waist height, pointing towards the team that did not offend, for about five seconds. Those five seconds are only how long the arm stays out. Law 7 sets no time limit on advantage. It ends when one of the conditions in the law is met.
Tactical and territorial advantage
- Tactical: the team that did not offend is free to play the ball as it wishes.
- Territorial: play has moved towards the offending team's dead-ball line, the line at the back of their in-goal area.
- A combination of tactical and territorial advantage also counts.
Whichever kind it is, the advantage must be clear and real. A mere opportunity to gain an advantage is not enough.
When does advantage end?
Law 7 gives four ways for advantage to end. In this table, Team B commits the first offence and Team A is the team playing advantage.
| What happens | What the referee does |
|---|---|
| Team A gains a clear and real advantage | Judges that advantage is over and lets play continue |
| Team A is unlikely to gain an advantage | Stops play and gives the sanction for Team B's original offence |
| Team A offends before it has gained an advantage | Stops play and gives the sanction for Team B's first offence. If either offence is foul play, the referee also applies the sanction for the foul play |
| Team B offends again, and no advantage can come from the second offence | Stops play, and Team A's captain chooses the sanction that helps Team A most |
Here is how that looks in a match. Team B knocks the ball on and Team A gathers it. The referee's arm goes out towards Team A. If Team A breaks through and makes ground towards Team B's dead-ball line, the referee can judge that advantage is over, and play continues. If the referee judges that Team A is unlikely to gain anything clear and real, the whistle goes and Team A gets the scrum for the knock-on.
What happens when the referee comes back?
The referee gives the sanction for the offence that advantage was played for. A knock-on, which the law calls a knock forward, normally gives a scrum, and the team that did not offend throws in. If the ball went into touch, that team may choose a lineout or quick throw instead. An offence that carries a penalty gives a penalty.
A penalty for an offence while the ball is in play is normally marked where the offence happened. Law 20 sets out the exceptions. For example, a penalty for offside at a scrum, lineout, ruck or maul is marked at the offending team's offside line. The mark is always in the field of play and at least five metres from the try line.
When is advantage not played?
The law lists moments when the referee must not play advantage and must blow the whistle straight away.
- The ball, or a player carrying it, touches the referee and either team gains an advantage from it.
- The ball comes out of either end of the tunnel at a scrum.
- A scrum is wheeled through more than 90 degrees.
- A player in a scrum is lifted or forced upwards so that they are no longer in contact with the ground.
- A quick throw, free-kick or penalty is taken incorrectly.
- The ball is made dead.
- It would be dangerous to let play continue.
- The referee suspects that a player is seriously injured.
When the ball or ball carrier touches the referee and either team gains an advantage in the field of play, the referee gives a scrum to the team that last played the ball.
Common confusions about advantage
- It is not a five-second rule. The arm signal lasts about five seconds, but Law 7 has no time limit.
- A chance is not an advantage. The law says a mere opportunity to gain an advantage is not enough. The gain must be clear and real.
- Ground can be enough. Advantage can be territorial, so play moving towards the offending team's dead-ball line can count.
- A second offence does not cancel the first. If the team playing advantage offends before gaining anything, the referee goes back to the first offence.
- Accidental offside works the other way round. A player in front of a team-mate who is carrying the ball or who last played it is offside. If that player cannot avoid being touched by the ball, or by the team-mate carrying it, they are accidentally offside. Play stops only if the offending team gains an advantage, and the sanction is a scrum.
Is advantage the same in sevens and junior rugby?
World Rugby's law variations for sevens, tens and under-19 rugby do not change Law 7. One under-19 scrum variation does change when play stops: the referee stops play and resets the scrum if it is unintentionally wheeled through more than 45 degrees, not 90, and intentionally wheeling a scrum is a penalty. Unions may still have their own age-grade law variations, so check with your union for junior rugby.