How long rugby halftime

News: Snedden not concerned with All Blacks. News: Springboks add four to planning camp. Live Sports Communication error please reload the page. Football Results Today Fixtures. Results Today Fixtures. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix December Max Verstappen 2. Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 3. How long is a rugby match? The length of a rugby match is 80 minutes long with two halves of 40 minutes.

For decades, rugby matches have been eighty minutes long in the sport, allowing time for teams to fully get a mantle. The half time interval in a match can be no longer than 15 minutes. At this time, players are allowed to leave the pitch and recover in their respective changing rooms.

This particular clause can cause some friction between players and the referee if one team or the referee thinks the player's team is gaining an advantage from the stoppage, especially if it occurs several times in a half. However, if the injury is serious and removing the player would further aggravate his condition, the one minute can be extended until the player is treated by specialist staff before being moved.

A player yellow-carded is sinbinned for ten minutes playing time, where the time taken for halftime does not count. So, a player sinbinned with three minutes to go until halftime will have another seven minutes to sit out at the start of the second half.

The time in the sinbin actually starts when the match resumes, as the offending player either reaches the chair in big time rugby, or more likely his opponents' dead ball line, where he has to remain for the ten minutes.

Some "unsmart" players amble back towards the dead ball line, thinking they are using up some of the ten minutes, but not so as time starts when they reach that line. A player leaving the field to have a bleeding injury attended to has 15 minutes of actual time before he must return to the field or be considered as "permanently replaced" and thus unable to return to the field for any reason.

If a player leaves the field with blood within 15 minutes of halftime starting then they must resume playing at the start of the second half or be considered as permanently replaced. In higher level matches where a team or match doctor is in attendance players who receive a knock to the head may leave the field to have a Head Injury Assessment HIA. Such players undergo a standardised assessment and have 10 minutes actual time to return to the field before being permanently replaced.