The 50:22 kick is a rugby law that was introduced in 2021 as part of five welfare-based law trials. If an attacking team kicks the ball from anywhere in their own half and it bounces inside the oppositions 22 before then bouncing into touch, the kicking team gets the throw at the resultant lineout. The aim of this law is to create more space on the pitch as players drop back to field tactical kicks, and to reduce the number of big collisions and therefore reduce injury and damaging contact to the head. The hope is that the defending team will keep an extra one or two players in the backfield, taking them out of the defensive line that is often strung across the field. The 50:22 kick is adapted from rugby league’s 40:20, and was pushed by the much-travelled Australian coach Scott Johnson at a World Rugby laws conference in 2019.