To an amateur, Rugby can be summarised as an 80 minute physical contest where two teams battle to put the ball down in the oppositions in-goal area whilst only passing backwards. So when one discovers that 44% of points in the 2015 Rugby World Cup were comprised of kicks through the uprights, it throws a spanner in the mix. Almost half of the points across all games at the international level have come from penalties or conversions. Is it right that so much emphasis placed on kicking? International rugby needs a new scoring system.
England’s 2003 RWC final victory is so commonly attributed to Jonny Wilkinson’s famous drop goal. With a try each in that final, Australia vs England truly became Wilkinson vs Elton Flatley. A two man battle where five kicks beat four and England were crowned the best rugby team in the world. Many would say this seems a rather unsatisfactory representation of the physical, technical and tactical duel that rugby entails. There is no doubt that the current scoring system gives kicking more credit than it deserves.
Kicking’s outrageous influence on the modern game begs some big questions: Should clubs be spending 44% of their salary budget on a kicker? If kicking is to hold the same value in the future as it does today, why is it so discouraged and poorly practiced in youth rugby? Either kicking needs greater focus and funding in order to match it’s inflated influence in the game or the game needs to change to devalue and diminish this battle of attrition between both teams fly halves.
Currently, a team is awarded five points for a try, three for a penalty and two for a conversion. A new proposed scoring system is currently bring trialled in the Welsh Principality Premiership, South African Varsity Cup & soon to be used in the Mitre 10 Cup (formerly ITM Cup). This modernised system will provide six points for a try, two for a penalty and two for a conversion, depreciating the value of kicking for posts and encouraging more tries.
In England’s 25-21 victory over Wales in their penultimate Six Nations matchup, the try score was actually England 1-3 Wales. It was England’s kicking which tallied over the scoreboard. The prospect that in any sport, one team can score one, concede three and end the match as the Victors, would certainly confuse anyone unfamiliar with the game. Had the new proposed scoring system been introduced, Wales would’ve won 24-20 in the fourth leg of what has now been crowned an English Grand Slam.
Rugby fan or not, many will remember Japan’s show stopping defeat over South Africa in the pool stages of the RWC, with a final score of JPN 34-32 SA. To the disappointment of rugby fans worldwide, the new scoring method would have reversed the scores, South Africa with 34 – 32 to Japan. It’s interesting to see how nations’ old playing styles would fare under potential new law.
How will a score system change affect international rugby? What would it mean for the Northern Hemisphere teams who are so over-reliant on their conservative kicking game? Despite mostly being a matter of speculation, what we could expect is for a new scoring system to increase the already large disparity between the All Blacks and the rest of the world.
A short 7 game analysis amongst the top 8 rugby nations showed that NZ scored 30% less penalties than the world top 8’s average. Yet the All Blacks compensate by scoring 65% more tries than the top 8 nations’ average. To simplify this statistic, NZ are scoring 3 times more tries per game than the other top teams and 1.5 tmes less penalties. Essentially they’re better risk takers and are driven by a six-point-try / two-point-penalty mentality. England and France are the top two penalty and drop goal scorers of all time at World Cup’s. Meanwhile New Zealand and Australia place first and second for the most tries scored. With tries increasing in value and kicks decreasing, if Northern Hemisphere rugby continues it’s conservative playing style, the new scoring system will just increase the scoreline gap between North & South.
So, isn’t this a step in the wrong direction? Currently, the equatorial gap proves to be constantly widening, as shown by the All-Southern Hemisphere RWC Semi Finals. Hopefully, a forcible change in the rules will provoke the shift in mindset that the North need in order to compete.
Reports of the new scoring system in the Welsh Principality Premiership show that as expected, the games include more: tries, kicks for touch, lineouts, scrums and tap & go’s, with less: drop goals and kicks from the tee. Decreasing this battle of attrition between both fly halves and showing us the rugby we love to watch. However it also showed an increase in penalties, yellow cards and general recklessness as teams are less concerned about giving away two points than three. Although this could be a safety concern at first, officials are confident that strict refereeing and enforcing the rules will iron out any negative changes in the game.
A new scoring system, like any new proposed rule in sports, will attract it’s doubters. The law change of 1992 which increased the value of a try from four to five points, similarly was met with it’s sceptics before turning out for the best. Albeit a daunting step, the new proposed score system will add more to the excitement that fans love to see: bulldozing, line breaking forward play and awe-inspiring back’s running lines, fancy switches and dummies. All of which come with the one single aim of 15 men trying to wrestle the ball over the white line and 15 men trying to stop them, instead of two guys taking it in turns to kick through the uprights.
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