World Rugby has moved to align with the NRL and NFL in outlawing the dangerous hip-drop tackle.
The game's global stewards on Wednesday evening issued a media release that detailed its decision to make the tackle illegal alongside the knee-drop tackle.
Rugby has for some time been criticized for its failure to move on the hip-drop tackle, which was recently thrust back into the spotlight in Australia when Penrith Panthers rugby league superstar and 2026 Dally Medal winner Nathan Cleary was brought down in a horror incident in his side's preliminary final loss to Newcastle.
While World Rugby is unlikely to have been affected by the Cleary injury, similar incidents involving rising Australian star Treyvon Pritchard, who suffered a broken right fibula and syndesmosis injury at the Junior World championship in Georgia in June, only heightened calls for the tackle to be outlawed.
"The World Rugby Executive Board has approved a law amendment and a law application guideline confirming that two relatively rare, but dangerous tackle techniques, will now be subject to sanction," World Rugby's media release said.
"The "hip drop" tackle, where a tackler uses their bodyweight to pull a player to ground and drops onto the legs of a ball carrier from behind, will be explicitly added to foul play law and will be sanctioned with at least a penalty kick.
"The "knee drop" tackle, where a player drops to one or both knees before making a tackle, will be highlighted to players, coaches and match officials as an action already covered in law and can also be sanctioned with a penalty."
While declaring hip-drop instances "rare" in the 15-player game, WR revealed the tackle had been the subject of discussion at its Shape of the Game meetings from earlier this year, from which a working group was created to further evaluate the tackle.
That working group later instructed that the dangerous tackle law, 9.13, should be clarified.
"We're grateful to unions for raising the issue of these types of tackle with us. My thanks go to the working group and wider World Rugby team for the speed and breadth of their research and analysis. These changes show the commitment across the globe to player welfare in rugby in action," World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson said.
"Once we looked at the evidence, it was clear the hip drop tackles whilst rare, could cause significant leg injuries. It was also clear that knee drop tackles were on the rise.
"Protecting player welfare is at the heart of everything that World Rugby does and once we'd reviewed the analysis we've acted quickly to ensure that dangerous tackles of this nature are removed from the game, starting this weekend."
Hip-drop tackles have been of particular frustration in Australia, where the NRL, and its strong sanctions on such incidents, is prominent, particularly after star winger Max Jorgensen suffered a ankle syndesmosis injury while playing for the Waratahs in Super Rugby Pacific in 2025.
Jorgensen was brought down in a clear hip-drop manouvre by Hurricanes back-rower Brayden Iose, but competition officials SANZAAR were unable to act given the tackle was not specifically mentioned in the World Rugby lawbook.
Hurricanes and All Blacks scrum-half Cam Roigard was meanwhile the victim of a hip-drop tackle that ended his 2024 Super Rugby season.
The Jorgensen incident was featured in an instructional video included in World Rugby's release, so to that of Pritchard when the 19-year-old was felled by Wales scrum-half Sion Davies.
The hip-drop tackle will officially be illegal from Nov. 1, in time for the second block of Nations Championship fixtures. The knee-drop law is already in effect, with World Rugby making unions aware of the change that became law from Oct. 5.
NEW DEFINITION
Hip-drop tackle: When a ball carrier...
- is grasped and tackled from the side or behind,and;
- the tackler swings round or through the ball carrier, and/or;
- drops their hips/body weight down on to the legs or lower limbs of the ball carrier as... they are brought to ground.
Amended Law 9.13:
A player must not tackle an opponent early, late, or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent which leads to head contact; or tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the relevant sanction line while either player is in open field play; or a hip drop tackle.
KNEE-DROP TACKLE
There is an increasing trend for players to drop a knee to the ground before they make a tackle on a ball carrier.
These actions create a number of player welfare concerns - with the tackler's head being lowered rapidly to the knee height of a ball carrier, and for the ball carrier who makes contact with an anchored tackler, or the dynamics of it forcing the ball carrier to flip/invert onto the ground. These actions have led to an increase in injuries to both participants.
Players who do this are taking themselves off their feet in open play, and so in law cannot make, or attempt to make a tackle. This is covered in Law 13 (Players on the ground in open play), and by foul play law if match officials deem the tackle to be reckless or dangerous.
Players are advised to stop this technique, and for match officials to sanction accordingly if identified.