What is hand in the ruck?

What is hand in the ruck?

Mike Schmid (Director of Rugby, Esher RFC) gives expert video advice on: What is a foul or penalty?; What is a penalty goal?; Why would someone get sin binned? and more...

In a ruck situation, the ball is on the floor. The only pair that's allowed to pick that ball up, legally, is your scrum half. So the ball needs to be at the back of that ruck before it is moved. Quite often, teams competing for the ball will use their hands illegally in that ruck sense. So once the ball is on the floor, hands off, or else it's a hands in penalty.