A maul begins when a player carrying the ball is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball carrier’s team mates bind on the ball carrier. A maul therefore consists, when it begins, of at least three players, all on their feet; the ball carrier and one player from each team. All the players involved must be caught in or bound to the maul and must be on their feet and moving towards a goal line. Open play has ended.

 

Players joining a maul must have thier head and shoulders no lower than their hip. A maul ends unsuccessfully if it remains stationary or has stopped moving forward for longer than 5 seconds and a scrum is ordered

 

Mauls often turn into rucks when the player carrying the ball falls to the ground because of all the pushing and shoving going on.

However, no player can bring down a maul on purpose.

This is because it could be very dangerous and cause serious injuries to those players fighting to get their hands on the ball.

So if the referee believes a player has brought a maul down, he will award a penalty at the place where the offence happened to the other team.