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At the end of every Rugby World Cup tournament, the IRB reviews the laws of rugby to work out whether changes should be made. So the time has arrived to begin the debate. My view is that the review should look at the points system and decide whether it needs modifying, changing drastically, or should be left alone going into the rugby’s next four year cycle.
Last weekend, I wrote a column in the SMH essentially defending (with one small tweak) the current system of 5 points for try, 2 for a conversion, and 3 points for a penalty and a drop goal.
The tweak was to the drop goal points.
In my view, the drop goal should not be a mainstream way of scoring points, but should be available to teams to break dead-locks towards the end of a match.
So my suggestion is that the drop goal be allocated 2 points.
This would mean that a converted try is worth more than two penalty goals and three drop goals. Is this enough reward for tries over kicks, though?
The justification for the 3-point penalty is that there needs to be a sanction against teams that deliberately infringe when the opposition is in their half.
In the recent Brumbies-Reds match, for instance, the Brumbies scored four tries to one. But one of the reasons for this is that they cynically gave away nine penalties in their own half.
Quade Cooper booted over most of them for the Reds, and slotted a drop goal as well.
The result, which was a fair one in the circumstances, is that the Reds defeated the Brumbies.
This SMH article got a strong response from readers.
I’ll put down some of the suggestions that were made. They are in no particular order of merit, and they do not necessarily reflect what my views are:
1. Greg Growden in his column on the following Monday made the case for a 6-point try and keeping the rest of the system as it currently is. He pointed out that the value of the try was last increased from 4 to 5 points in 1992. It is time for another increase, he suggests.
2. Penalty goals and drop goals should be downgraded by one point, so that all successful kicks should be worth 2 points, was another response: “I’m tired of Daniel Carter and his ilk winning games on penalty goals. Let there be tries!”
3. Reduce the penalty for an attacking side to 1 point but recommence play at the same place with the ball in possession of the attacking side: “The attacking side will then receive a potential 7 points for a try, or 8, 9 or 10, if repeatedly offended against prior to scoring.”
4. “Do like our Mother Game does and put a white spot in front of the posts on the 22m line. If the defending side gives away a penalty inside their 22 or red zone it is straight to the spot for the penalty. In between 22s, you can do everything you can now except kick for goal.”
5. Penalties kicked inside an opponent’s 22 should be worth 5 points: “This would make the defending team think twice about giving away penalties and potentially produce more tries.”
6. Penalty tries should be worth more than a try, “or there is no punishment.”
7. The drop goal which is missed should be ruled as a missed kick in the same way as a punt and the scrum returns to the place where it was kicked: “This way selfish players like Francois Steyne would be in all sorts of trouble from his forwards if he continued to launch 50m plus drop goal attempts.”
I like this last point and believe it should be brought into rugby from the beginning of next season.
The more esoteric changes, such as the penalty spot concept, do not impress me.
Part of the drama of rugby is the penalty goal kicked in extraordinary last minute circumstances, like Kurtley Beale at Blomfontein or Stephen Brett for the Blues at the weekend to snatch a victory away from the Western Force.
I also believe that Growden’s argument for increasing the value of a try has merit.
If this were brought in and the drop goal reduced to 2 points, a converted try would be worth the same as two penalty goals and a drop goal, or four drop goals.
Along with the change that a missed drop goal that goes dead is treated just as a punt that goes dead, rugby’s points system would then reflect the primacy of scoring tries – something that most of the rugby world wants.