In general play a player is off side when in front of a teammate who has the ball, this means that the player is out of the game until they are put back on side. They must not take part in the game in anyway during this time.
If a player kicks ahead and a teammate is offside at the moment of the kick, they can be put on side by the kicker if the kicker runs in front of them or if another on side teammate runs in front of him. They can also be put onside by an opponent if the opponent runs for 5m with the ball, kicks or passes the ball or intentionally touches it but does not hold it – such as dropping the kick.
There is an offside line at the hindmost foot of the scrum, ruck and maul beyond which defending players cannot move until the ball is out. The offside line at a line out is 10m from the line of touch so that the players have more room to move.
