Recent years have seen the issue of what a penalty and a drop goal should be worth argued about. The move to increase the value of a try (years before I started following rugby) to four, and then five points, clearly placed more of a premium on scoring tries (as I think everyone would agree it should be).
But some critics have suggested penalties and drop goals be dropped to two or even one point to reduce their role, and attractiveness in the sport.
We haven’t exactly seen AFL style popping of drop goals willy nilly in recent years, or along the lines the Springboks did at the 1999 RWC, but with the removal of the short arm (at least in the southern hemisphere where it was trialled as an ELV), the value of a penalty goal may soon again raise its ugly head as an issue.
Ruggamatrix recently had a discussion about the issue of drop goals, which included a discussion about the various skills and strengths important in the game and how they should be rewarded, and this got me thinking. What about different values depending on where they were scored? Stick with me here.
The point of a penalty is to both punish the offending team, and reward the offended team for losing an advantage and chance to score. However, in these days of professionalism, light weight balls and obsessive compulsives like Wilkinson practising on Christmas day, they seem to be able to often pot them from over the halfway line without breaking a sweat.
But is a penalty on the halfway line the same as a penalty on the 5m line? Surely a penalty closer to the line is more likely to have prevented a try, and be worth more as a result.
As such, an idea may be to make a penalty inside the 22 worth 3 points, between the 22 and either 40 or halfway 2 points, and beyond the halfway 1 point.
This does raise issues like the place of the penalty suddenly becoming more important, and putting pressure on the referee to get it right and be argued with, but it would reduce the incentive to take long penalty shots, and also retain the value for more crucial penalties closer to the line.
Something similar might be done with drop goals, although I can see the attraction of retaining the 3 points, as it is a skill worth rewarding. If this were also to be changed, then the reverse of the penalty goal system above would apply. Those potted from right in front aren’t as hard, or valuable, as 30 metres out. As such, perhaps 1-2 points within the 10 or 22, 2-3 points from 10 or 22 to 40, and certainly 3 points beyond the 40.
This would put a burden on the referee and touchies for correctly assessing where it was kicked from, but that would probably be more a problem for the amateur level (without TMOs) than the professional level.
Something to think about, and to start a discussion with.
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