Does the Lower Tackle Limit Apply to a Pick-and-Go?

Not automatically. Under World Rugby’s approved 2026 community wording, specified low-speed pick-and-go actions sit outside the open-field lower tackle-height requirement. That is not a worldwide exemption for every carry beginning beside a ruck. The applicable union, competition and age-grade rules—and the official interpretation of whether the action remains a low-speed pick-and-go or is open-field play—determine which height provision applies. Dangerous-play and head-contact rules continue to apply.

The short answer: check the phase and the local rule

A defender should not assume that every pick-and-go can be tackled above the competition’s normal sanction line. Start with two questions:

1. Which tackle-height wording governs this match?
2. Does that wording classify this action as open-field play or as a specified low-speed pick-and-go?

World Rugby’s approved community wording defines open-field play so that it excludes low-speed pick-and-go actions and players dipping while attempting to score. It also allows community unions to choose either the waist or the base of the sternum as their sanction line, while related provisions can address ball-carrier lowering and double tackles. The shoulder is no longer one of the available community sanction-line options under this wording. These are community provisions, not automatic rules for every level of rugby. See the approved World Rugby wording.

An exclusion from the open-field height provision is not permission for dangerous contact. It does not legalise contact with the head or neck, and it does not switch off the other requirements governing tackles. The exclusion determines whether that particular lower sanction line applies to the collision.

The difficult case is a carrier who picks beside the ruck and then moves laterally or accelerates away. As a practical inference, the more the action departs from the specified low-speed, near-breakdown picture, the more important it becomes to ask whether the referee considers it open-field play. Moving into space is not itself a codified test, however, and neither distance nor acceleration alone establishes the answer.

There is no universal number of steps, metres or seconds defining the boundary. Coaches should check current union, competition and age-grade guidance and ask the referee lead how borderline ruck-edge carries will be interpreted.

What the base-of-sternum line actually means

Where a competition adopts the base of the sternum, that line is the maximum legal contact height in the situation covered by the provision. It is not an instruction to aim at or strike the breastbone. Contact may be made lower, subject to all the other requirements of a legal tackle.

Under the approved community framework, unions may select either:

• the waist; or
• the base of the sternum.

The applicable line can therefore differ between jurisdictions and competitions. The approved wording also places the lower sanction line within a defined open-field context rather than applying it identically to every low-body-position collision around a breakdown.

Timing needs equal care. World Rugby said the community change applies to seasons beginning after 1 July 2026. It did not change every competition already in progress on that date. World Rugby also confirmed that participating unions choose between the waist and base-of-sternum lines and can adapt secondary provisions through community variations. The official announcement explains the season-based implementation.

A specialist summary of the July law updates likewise reported that community unions can select either waist height or the base of the sternum under Laws 9 and 14. It is useful corroboration of the change, but the governing union and competition documents remain controlling for a particular fixture. Read the RugbyReferee.net update.

Keep the legal ceiling separate from the coached contact area. The law establishes where contact must not be made above in the situation it covers. A qualified coach must still choose an appropriate lower contact area and teach the complete skill progressively. Research can compare broad contact locations such as the torso, hip and knee; it does not establish the sternum itself as the one uniquely safest place to make contact.

Four pick-and-go scenarios to check

Classify what the carrier is actually doing rather than relying on the attacking team’s call of “pick-and-go.” The table below applies the governing body’s distinction between open-field play and specified low-speed pick-and-go or scoring actions; it does not create a distance or movement test. The official community wording provides the underlying distinctions.

Scenario	Likely classification	Rule to check	Unresolved judgement
1. Open-field runner	Open-field play	Apply the competition’s waist or base-of-sternum ceiling, plus all other tackle laws	Does the controlling authority regard the player as running in open-field play?
2. Low-speed pick immediately beside a ruck	Potential specified pick-and-go exclusion	Check whether the adopted wording excludes that action from the open-field sanction line	Does the action fit the local meaning of low-speed play at the breakdown?
3. Carrier moves away from the breakdown	Requires reassessment; it may no longer fit the exclusion	Check whether the local pick-and-go wording still applies or the ordinary open-field line now controls	How does the referee distinguish the breakdown action from open-field play?
4. Carrier dips while attempting to score	Potential scoring exception	Check the applicable scoring wording and any dangerous ball-carrier provision	Is this a genuine scoring action, and has either player acted dangerously?

The third row is a practical decision prompt, not a claim that taking a particular step automatically changes the legal classification. The published wording does not supply such a test.

The separate 2026 U20 Championship trial helps explain the distinction. In that trial, World Rugby provided for pick-and-go actions near rucks and specified scoring situations because a low ball-carrier position could make a sternum-height restriction impractical. That was a condition of the named elite trial, not a permanent exemption covering every carry launched from a breakdown. World Rugby’s U20 announcement sets out that trial context.

Neither “low-speed” nor “immediate vicinity” has one universally measurable definition in the available material. A cue such as “three steps means open field” might help players practise recognition, but it must not be taught as law or referee guidance unless the governing authority has formally adopted that threshold.

Community law, the U20 trial and one union example are not interchangeable

Three similar-looking regimes show why the competition must be identified before coaches teach the decision.

Regime	Normal line	Pick-and-go treatment	Scope
Approved 2026 community framework	Union selects waist or base of sternum	Specified low-speed pick-and-go actions are outside the defined open-field requirement; related provisions may be adapted	Relevant community seasons beginning after 1 July 2026
2026 World Rugby U20 Championship trial	Sternum-height trial	Trial exceptions covered near-ruck pick-and-go actions and specified scoring situations	The named elite U20 trial
Rugby Canada 2026 guidance	Below the base of the sternum in open-field running	The provision does not apply in the immediate vicinity of a ruck or in a maul, including the document’s pick-and-drive example	Rugby Canada’s jurisdiction-specific implementation

For community rugby, the global framework supplies choices rather than one identical implementation. The union selects the sanction line, and community variations may address associated situations such as pick-and-go play and double tackles. Coaches should not import the U20 trial’s complete package into community, school, professional or international rugby unless the governing competition has adopted equivalent wording.

The U20 Championship measure was a separate elite trial. It included conditions covering near-ruck pick-and-go and scoring actions, dangerous head-first carrying and double tackles. Those conditions explain how that trial operated; they do not establish the law for another competition.

Rugby Canada offers a concrete example of local implementation. Its 2026 guidance says the open-field below-sternum provision does not apply in the immediate vicinity of a ruck or in a maul and gives a pick and drive as an example. The same document says the World Rugby Head Contact Process continues to apply whenever head or neck contact occurs. See Rugby Canada’s official 2026 tackle-height guidance.

That wording explains Rugby Canada’s approach only. It must not be treated as the interpretation for another union, and exclusion from its open-field sternum provision does not remove the remaining dangerous-play requirements.

Lower does not mean risk-free

World Rugby reported that its community trials studied more than 150,000 tackles and found that lower tackle-height limits reduced upright tackling. The governing body characterises upright tackles as the type most likely to cause avoidable head impacts. Those are World Rugby’s reported trial conclusions; the announcement does not provide the underlying methods or establish that diagnosed concussion fell in every participating population.

Scottish men’s community evidence supplies narrower context. According to a University of Edinburgh summary, researchers analysed 18,702 tackles from 60 matches and associated a below-sternum trial with less head-on-head and head-to-shoulder contact. Tacklers were more likely to bend at the waist, while contact shifted towards the lower torso and upper legs. The study found no significant increase in tacklers’ heads contacting carriers’ hips or knees. The university report gives the study figures and findings.

That Scottish evaluation measured body position and contact patterns, not a confirmed reduction in diagnosed concussion. It also covered men’s community rugby in Scotland, so its findings should not be assumed to apply identically to women’s, youth, professional or other community populations.

Elite men’s research adds a different caution. A case-control study examined 231 tackles associated with clinically diagnosed concussion and 9,963 control tackles in English Premiership rugby. Tackler head-to-torso contact had relatively low concussion odds compared with other head-contact locations, but every coded form of tackler head contact carried higher odds than no head contact. Head-to-hip contact occurred more often than head-to-knee contact, while head-to-knee contact produced the highest estimated odds, with considerable statistical uncertainty.

The researchers concluded that the findings support strategies targeting the torso, but this was an observational study of elite male players rather than a universal coaching trial. It does not validate the sternum as a single ideal target, prescribe close-range pick-and-go technique or decide whether a particular carry falls within a legal exception.

The coaching problem is therefore more precise than “go lower.” Players need to reduce upright, high-contact collisions without placing the tackler’s head carelessly near a carrier’s hip or knee. That requires supervised technical instruction rather than a slogan based on one height line.

The coach’s pre-session rules check

Before training pick-and-go defence, confirm these six points:

• [ ] Playing level: community, school, age-grade, university, elite or another category.
• [ ] Union: the national or regional authority controlling the fixture.

• [ ] Competition and age grade: including tournament-specific variations.

• [ ] Pick-and-go and scoring exceptions: including the wording used for near-ruck and grounding situations.

• [ ] Ball-carrier and secondary-tackler provisions: including lowering, dangerous head-first actions and double tackles.

If published guidance does not explain “low-speed” or the boundary of the ruck’s “immediate vicinity,” ask the competition manager or referee lead before the session. Use concrete examples: an immediate pick at the guard defender, one lateral movement from the ruck, or a carrier accelerating through a gap beyond the fringe.

Begin with non-contact recognition. Walk through several starting pictures and ask players to call open field, near-ruck pick, scoring action or unclear—check the referee. This teaches the decision without turning uncertain written wording into an improvised full-speed collision drill.

The publication’s Rucking Technique: the Fundamentals guide can help players recognise where the breakdown is and how body positions develop around it. It does not define the local pick-and-go exception.

Only an appropriately qualified coach should select and supervise the subsequent contact progression. Head placement, footwork, shoulder contact and the response to a very low carrier should come from current governing-body coaching material and instruction appropriate to the group. Rugby contact carries genuine injury risk, and written notes are not a substitute for qualified, progressive coaching.

Identify the governing competition, confirm its sanction line and pick-and-go wording, then classify the actual carry rather than relying on its label. A specified low-speed action beside a ruck may be treated differently from open-field running, but no exception removes dangerous-play or head-contact responsibilities.