Penalty (rugby union)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Penalty" rugby union – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A penalty in rugby union is the main disciplinary sanction available to the referee to penalise a team who commit deliberate infringements. The team who did not commit the infringement are given possession of the ball and they may either kick it towards touch (in which case the ball back rule is waived), attempt a place kick at goal, or tap the ball with their foot and run. It is also sometimes used as shorthand for penalty goal.