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.
Justin
Guest
Havent we just done this to death? Similar song from the same hymn book...
Bazza
Guest
Not forgetting the most famous kick of all - Joel Stransky's drop to win the 1995 worl cup. oh yeah !!
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
Everyone who has kicked a ball knows the skill required to convert a penalty from anywhere on the pitch. goal kicking is rugby, and it has a place in modern rugby as much as tackling, scrummaging or outpacing your direct opponent. Some of the best goal-kickers of the decade (Wilko, Steyn x2, Grant, Carter etc) are all hard-working folks who have spent hours perfecting their skill. No way we should take that form them or the rugby game as such.
JottingsOnRugby.com
Roar Pro
Rugby isn't and never was purely "football". Rugby is a game combined of wrestling, handball & football. Different players, different positions, different roles bring different attributes, specialties, and ultimately in combination produce a game to play and watch that has variety of interests. While the % of the three component parts in that formula have varied over time, I'm not sure what sort of a game reduced solely to wrestling-handball would offer the heart. I don't think tail docking is still lawful in many placed, and I wouldn't do it to rugby by severing the goal posts.
katzilla
Roar Guru
Have a lottery system on the big screen that informs a team which player on the field has to take a kick (done after a try is scored or when a team decides to kick at goal)
Brett Susan
Guest
Some of the most memorable moments in the sport have come from goal kicks. Jannie de Beer against England; Morne Steyn against Lions and of course Kurtley Beale on the Boks last year. Every fan can remember an example of an edge of he seat conversation which changed a game. A goal kick- be it a drop or place kick- must be one of the most under- rated skill in sport and to curl a kick from an acute angle from 50m out is something unique and special to our sport. It must never be devalued and it is a pity that some people are unable to savor it for the remarkable skill it takes. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
mania
Guest
nah kicking is an integral skill that should be kept in rugby. but i would freeze the clock while a penalty or conversion is being lined up.
Football United
Guest
why don't we just stop playing rugby altogether? i mean once you take out goal kicking, why not just take all kicking or scrums or lineouts. Rugby and Kicking has always been hand in hand, just because you only like one style of play doesn't mean the rest of the world agrees.