Limit kicks at goal to just one per player

 
Andrew Logan Columnist

By , 9 Sep 2009 Andrew Logan is a Roar Expert

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New Zealand's Dan Carter, right, is tackled by Australia's Nathan Sharpe during the Bledisloe Cup rugby match in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. New Zealand won the match 19-18 and retain the Bledisloe Cup.(AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

New Zealand's Dan Carter, right, is tackled by Australia's Nathan Sharpe during the Bledisloe Cup rugby match in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. New Zealand won the match 19-18 and retain the Bledisloe Cup.(AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

In just about any rugby conversation you come across these days, the talk turns to kicking, particularly kicking for goal. “There are too many penalties!” the naysayers argue.

Metronome-boots like Dan Carter and Morne Steyne are apparently spoiling the spectacle. After all, we opine, rugby was meant to be a running game.

This is not entirely true, but the barflies don’t let the facts get in the way of an attractive argument. As most of us are probably aware, even a try was originally just that in the old days – a try at goal. The only reason you wanted to get the ball over the line, was so that you could have a kick at goal for some points.

So kicking has always been a part of the game. More than just a running game, rugby has been a game for all seasons, all countries and all body types.

The stodgy Poms, fed up on fish, chips and lager and 6 hours of sunshine topped off with an inch of rain a day, understandably perfected the rolling maul and the kick for position. Combine that with every kid growing up kicking a round ball for the first 10 years of life, and it’s hardly surprising that some of the great goalkickers like Jonny Wilkinson and Rob Andrew have been English.

For the South Africans, the combination of heat, altitude and rock hard tracks, along with the preponderance of carnivorous forwards who block out the sun, encouraged a love affair with the set piece, and a preference for the field goal. Better that than running yourself to a standstill in Everest thin air, and then getting slammed to earth on a field only slightly softer than the average car park. As a result, Naas Botha, Joel Stransky and Jannie de Beer were all famous exponents of the droppie.

As for the Aussies, it’s a wonder that our famously laid back approach hasn’t led to more great goalkickers, although Matt Burke and Michael Lynagh are without doubt two of the world’s best. Maybe it has something with the more forgiving field conditions in Australia, or the famous cry of Australian sporting crowds “Have a go ya mug!” that leads us to generally prefer running over kicking.

That said, we haven’t missed the chance to win the odd important contest with a kick (thanks for the memories Bernie Larkham…), so we’ve no reason to get on our moral high horse.

Anyway, the point of all that is that whether we like it or not, the penalty goal and the field goal are an essential part of the game. Whether it is a Larkham or Wilkinson kicking a drop goal to win a World Cup semi-final or final, or an Eales or a Mortlock knocking one over on the bell to win the Tri-Nations, you can’t get away from the goal as a crucial play.

The problem arises when you have one guy knocking them over 6 or 8 of them in a game off the back of several refereeing decisions which may or may not have been interpreted entirely correctly. When the whole fabric of the game changes because teams have got some freak who can knock goals over from 60 metres 80 percent of the time, then we’ve got a problem Houston.

Of course, we can’t change the value of the penalty goal or the field goal. It’s too drastic and simply encourages infringements, because two points, or even one, is not penalty enough.

Changing the laws to discourage penalties doesn’t work either – it’s a proven way to annoy everyone and not actually change much. And anyway, as we’ve seen from both the Boks and the Lions during the 2009 Lions Tour of South Africa, and also the recent Wallabies win over South Africa, teams who want to play running rugby under the current laws can. The laws don’t stop them. Neither should the laws stop them kicking if they want to.

It’s really just the fact that one player with a ridiculously specific skill can have such a huge influence on a match – that’s the problem. An average team with a great kicker can often beat a good team with an average kicker, and that’s not what rugby should be about, no matter whether you’re an Aussie, a Pom, a Kiwi or a Boks fan.

So how do we change the situation without changing the points, and without changing the playing laws?

Simple. We limit each player to one successful goal per match. Once you’ve kicked one goal, that’s it. Neeeext.
Imagine the raft of possibilities which suddenly open up.

No longer do we have one freak player who dominates one part of the contest – the responsibilities are shared across the team. And why not? All players tackle, all players run and all players ruck and maul. So why shouldn’t all players kick for goal?

Of course, it’s going to be pretty rare that a prop or a lock is going to get the chance to have a crack at goal, since it’s not often that a team kicks more than five or six goals per game. The backs will take most of the shots, but it does open up the chance for an Eales-type to have a crack after about four or five goes.

Think of the strategic to-ing and fro-ing. Do we let Wilkinson take an early shot from in front, or do we save him for the tough match-winner later on? Do we give the penalty in front of the posts in the first 5 minutes to Rocky Elsom, or do we get someone better to make sure of it?

As a defending team, do we willingly infringe because they’ve already used three of their good kickers, or do we unwittingly gift a free shot to a guy who turns out to be an undiscovered goalkicking gem?

It’s interesting to see how this might play out. If pick a recent close match with plenty of goals as an example – say the Perth match between the Wallabies and Springboks – it could have gone something like this. First conversion goes to Fourie du Preez in the 7th minute, then Morne Steyn knocks a penalty over in the 17th. Matt Giteau follows with a penalty in the 28th and then Ruan Pienaar converts a try in the 34th. All of these players are now out of the kicking stakes.

The 40th minute penalty for the Wallabies would probably have been kicked by James O’Connor, and then maybe Adam Ashley-Cooper steps up to convert at 44 minutes. By the 54th minute conversion the Springboks are up to their fourth kicker for the night, most likely Jean de Villiers, then their fifth in Jacques Fourie for a penalty in the 68th minute.

By now the Wallabies are giving Peter Hynes a conversion attempt in the 81st minute, and if the Springboks had to go again, they may be tempted to give a forward a go, someone like Pierre Spies.

Of course, it’s not to say that these players would be used in this order. Several factors would influence the selection of kickers, factors such as where the kicks are awarded, whether they are conversions or penalties, what the score is and how far into the match we are. Regardless, the strategy would be fascinating and would give the fans a whole new dimension to debate. Imagine the roars of “Beeeeast” from the terraces as Tendai Mtawarira lines up a crucial conversion. Picture Richie McCaw dropping back in the pocket to have a crack at a drop goal. If nothing else it would put a whole new set of decisions on the captain.

The point is that this is a good middle ground between the current situation and a wholesale law change. Everything remains the same, and you can still have as many kicks as you want, but you just can’t have one guy taking all of them.

In tight games, the focus swings back to the rugby as it rightly should, since you can’t always rely on your kicker. Successful kicks become a bonus rather than a foregone conclusion. Teams only opt for one kick from 50 metres instead of three or four. And in games which are blowouts, at least everyone gets to have a crack at the posts.

If you’re still having trouble imagining, just remember John Eales stepping up as a replacement kicker to win the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe in 2000.

Just think of it – we could be having that sort of intrigue every single game.

It’s got legs I reckon, so forwards across the globe, dust off those kicking boots. Your moment of glory is nigh.

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