The Varsity Cup could make World Rugby interesting
Morné Steyn attacking JP Pietersen. Photo by Anton Geyser /Rugby15
Morgan Piek – There has been some debate around South Africa regarding the new scoring system adopted by the Steinhoff Varsity Cup for this year’s tournament. There has been some negative criticism, but mainly it has been positive. One thing people have to remember is that the Varsity Cup is that it is innovative; they tend to make the game a little more interesting.
The reasoning behind the new scoring system is to encourage a more open, faster paced game that encourages try scoring. It certainly has done that. After all, isn’t that what we all want out of Rugby game? There was some concern that it might encourage a more negative game because penalties have a lesser value, thus there is less to lose in conceding penalties. I will boldly state that this has not been the case and proves a person should rather concentrate on looking at the positives before worrying about the negatives.
The Varsity Cup has been running for a month already, with four rounds been played, having said that most of you understand the new scoring format. For those that are lagging, I’ll briefly explain. Tries are still valued at five points, a conversion has been pushed up to three instead of the traditional two points. Penalties and drop goals have been devalued, instead of the traditional three points apiece, they are now valued at two points each. So, this makes for interesting some reading, for example, if a team scores two converted tries they will have sixteen on the board. The opposing side needs to score two converted tries to make up those points, because will take eight penalties and dropped goals will make up sixteen.
Bare in mind that this is only for the Varsity Cup. However, during last night’s Varsity Cup clash between FNB Shilmas vs. FNB UJ in Bloemfontein, I had a rather interesting discussion with Stefan Lotter of The Free State Times; we discussed the impact it could have on Super Rugby.
We discussed the previous weekends Super Rugby games in particular. The Vodacom Bulls beat The Sharks 18 – 13 at Loftus; The DHL Stormers beat the Hurricanes (New Zealand) 39 – 26 at DHL Newlands and The MTN Lions narrowly pipped the Toyota Cheetahs 27 – 25 at Coca-Cola Park. It’s would have been totally different had they been playing Varsity Cup rules.
• The Vodacom Bulls scored five penalties and one dropped goal; The Sharks scored two penalties, one try and a conversion. It would have ended in a 12 all draw with the Varsity Cup rules.
• The DHL Stormers scored three tries, the conversions and five penalties as opposed to the two tries, two conversions and four penalties by the Hurricanes. The result would have remained the same, but the score line would have read 34 – 26 in favour of the DHL Stormers.
• The MTN Lions only scored with penalties, nine of them in total. The Toyota Cheetahs scored one try, one conversion, five penalties and one dropped goal. This would have actually handed the Toyota Cheetahs a 20-18 away victory.
It could be very interesting should the IRB adopt a new scoring system. It will most certainly make for interesting reading, especially when it comes to the closer games that could have a massive impact on the log and conferences. The Crusaders 19-18 victory over the Blues in Auckland is another perfect example of game that could have ended differently. It should encourage running rugby and level the playing field a little, making Super Rugby and World rugby for that matter more competitive.
Please note, that this article is just a comparison and is by no means my view of how this should change.
Related Posts
« Most Springboks rugby players produced by School Josh Strauss moved to flank for the Hurricanes encounter »
