Match day, the questions that come up
The Half Game Rule, rolling subs plus what to do about uneven squads.
Every grade
Free to read with no account. They work at a pitch with no signal too.
The answers
What is the Half Game Rule?
Every player in your squad gets at least half of the available playing time. It holds at every age grade and it's the one clubs get wrong most often, usually by accident rather than on purpose. Match day works the rotations out on the touchline so nobody has to count it on the back of a team sheet.
Does half the game mean half of every single match?
No. Across a festival it means half of the morning rather than half of each game, so a child can sit out one match entirely as long as the total comes good. That's the part clubs miss, because counting per game is easier and gives the wrong answer.
How many substitutions are we allowed?
As many as you like. Rolling substitutions are unlimited at every minis grade, only while the ball is dead and always with the referee's permission. A player who comes off can go back on later, which is what makes an honest rotation possible at all.
We have more players than the other team. What do we do?
Both sides put the same number out, so you play down to theirs and rotate more often. That's a Half Game Rule problem rather than a rules problem: with fifteen children and eight shirts, somebody is off for a long time unless you plan it before kick off.
How long is a game at each grade?
Halves of 10 minutes at U7 and U8, 15 at U9 and U10, then 20 at U11 and U12. Those are maximums. A festival organiser running eight teams through a morning will often make them shorter, which is where the playing time maths gets interesting.
How many players a side at each grade?
Four at U7, six at U8, seven at U9, eight at U10, nine at U11 then twelve at U12. The jump at U12 is the biggest of them and it happens on the same size pitch as U11, so there's noticeably less room.
Can we agree to change anything before kick off?
Some of it, yes. Pitch sizes are maximums, so the referee and both coaches can agree something smaller whenever they think it's safer. At U8 both coaches can agree a lower tag count. What you can't do is agree your way into a phase of play the grade doesn't have.
Equal Play is not affiliated with the RFU. Regulation 15 is theirs. These answers put it in our own words, so they are a summary rather than the thing itself. It is reissued every summer as well, so read this season's there rather than trusting a copy on somebody else's website. Ours included. If a referee on match day says something different to this page, they are right.
Read against the RFU's 2026/27 appendices in August 2026.
What your grade is allowed to do
The answers above say what the rule is. The rules guides say what a whole grade may do, which is the thing to read in August rather than in a car park.
- What U7 rugby looks like
- What U8 rugby looks like
- What U9 rugby looks like
- What U10 rugby looks like
- What U11 rugby looks like
- What U12 rugby looks like
The other questions
- Tag rugby. Tags, the three second count plus the six tag turnover. U7 and U8 only.
- The tackle. How high, what counts as held plus what the tackler has to do next.
- Ruck and maul. Who may join, what "Use it" means plus where the offside line sits.
- The scrum. Three players at U10, five at U12, nobody pushing at either.
- Restarts and touch. Free passes, free kicks plus why there is no lineout anywhere in minis.
- Kicking. What the boot is allowed to do from U11, plus the U11 rule that looks wrong.
- The referee. Who referees, what they can give plus why there is no sin bin.
- Safety and welfare. Head knocks, mouthguards, hard ground plus mixed rugby.
- Running a session. How long, how many helpers plus what to do if you never played.
Every topic in one place is the way in. The app searches the answers themselves, which is what you want when you know what you saw rather than what it is called.