For a sport so intrinsically dominated by team culture and ethos, rugby has a playing role that is bizarrely individualised.
This physical sport – in theory, at least – is a test of each team’s ability to advance the ball, as a collective, in an attempt to ground it over the opposition’s goal line.
And yet, a great goal kicker can be the difference between making the playoffs or succumbing to lower table mediocrity.
The goal kicker is as old as the game itself. When the first rules of rugby where written there were no points given for dotting the ball down. They were only given if the team’s kicker could slot the conversion. Teams would get a “try” for points – thus the name which is still in use today.
Over time, however, rugby’s administrators realised that tries themselves should have been assigned more value as they were generally a team achievement, in what was after all a team sport.
Is it then time to remove the goal kicker from rugby altogether?
Administrators are constantly trying to increase the amount of attractive rugby played.
What better way to increase attacking, try-scoring play, than to take the most negative of scoring options out of the game? If the team who scored the most tries won every time, then teams would be forced to play an aggressive variety of rugby in an attempt to find them.
It could be argued that teams would be more inclined to purposefully give away penalties, in an attempt to slow play down without the deterrent of conceding points.
However, if referees were quicker to pull out the yellow card then the players would soon learn.
Alternatively, a more drastic measure could be introduced, similar to hockey’s power play, where a player who gets penalised in their own 22 is forced to sit on the side-lines for a short, pre-determined period of time, giving the opposition a better chance to score.
Realistically, taking goals out of rugby would simply be a change that would be too controversial, and so it won’t be done anytime soon.
I believe, however, that a game without posts would be a better game to watch.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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