Drop Goals

GreenHell

Right england have gotten through to the world cup final without having the score a try against the french, should the IRB be looking at changing the value of scoring a drop goal?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

tHE vAGGABOND

france beat the all blacks 4 years ago in the semi with a load of drop goals..

beardedchicken

i think the point green hell is trying to raise is that games, like today's, that are dominated by drop goals and penalties makes for extremely dull and uninteresting for spectators (and for players i assume)

the irb initiated the bonus point for more than 4 tries in order to make it a more try-orientated game, and it did work, but only in the pool stages, but as lng as england have wilkinson they're going to try and use him as much as possible, which is understandable, but boring.

vorbis

drop goals have their place. They're there to keep drift defences honest. If you took away drop goals you'd probably get less tries!

krattapopov

i think drop goals should stay as they are 3 points, they are alot harder than penalties!! however i do think that maybe dropping the points of penalties to 2 points would make things more interesting

MarVeL

I'd agree with krattapopov in that the drop goal at least happens from open play. Penalties should definitely be looked at perhaps not as to their valus but as to their frequency, with some of the currrent penalty offences being switched to free kicks

DEG viper

i feel that both penalties and drop goals should be dropped to 2 to try and make the games more open

Stormfox1020

Honestly this all is aload of bull****, clearly you just want england to lose. Drop goals are part of the game and thats the end of it. It is a skill that england have perfected and use it to their advantage. It is boring as hell to watch, but im sure the players dont really care a win is a win. Rugby is all about tactics. Plus there was nothing Stopping france from taking a drop goal.

Trojan

Interesting debate. There are 2 sides to it - the obviously anti-England sentiment which is quite amusing, and then there's the real issue - the development of rugby union as a sport. Rule changes are and always have been necessary to the sport.

Only a few years ago a try was worth 4 points. It's not that long ago. And more relevantly, originally there was no such thing as a try, the game was about getting decent field position and then have your kicker score all your points. So in a way, England have just brought modern rugby back to it's old historical routes

Mind you, they did change the rules for a reason. I think Marvels got the right idea there - maybe demote some of the current penalties to free kicks.

Al.

uberwolf

penalties normally result from foul play preventing open running (and try scoring rugby) you lessen the "penalty" (sorry couldn't think of an alternative) for this play and you'll see more foul play and fewer tries.

henbane

Originally posted by uberwolf
penalties normally result from foul play preventing open running (and try scoring rugby) you lessen the "penalty" (sorry couldn't think of an alternative) for this play and you'll see more foul play and fewer tries.

Probably the best point made so far. As rugby has gotten more and more "professional", the cynicism displayed by teams in pursuit of the win has increased. All the top teams currently play to the particular ref's weaknesses which is why the refs were meeting during the tournament and discussing the regular infringements certain sides and players manage to get away with. The better teams avoid foul play which will result in a penalty within range of the kicker they are playing against, if less things result in a penalty then there will be more foul play.

What is needed is a stricter policy on yellow cards, with one warning to the team for persistent foul play and then the next player to slow ball down, come in form the side, or whatever is in the sin bin. Instead the refs tend to warn a player and then someone else in the pack starts doing exactly the same thing until he gets his warning. Players in the bin (when they deserve it) will result in a more open game or less foul play that ruins try-scoring opportunities.

Defences are too good, and if there is no value/danger with drop goals defences will be more secure. Wilkinson is exceptional at kicking them, you can't change the rules of a sport to stop one player/team; most other kickers don't have the percentages so it is usually last minute desperation time and awful exciting when they are kicked.

uberwolf

Originally posted by henbane
Probably the best point made so far. .

thank you.

Good point about the yellow card though. Ire v Aus, canon slowed the ball deliberately several times before rogeres hopped in to have a go, Horgan was unlucky to get done for it because of the way rogers moved. If the yellow card had been produced for Canon earlier could have been avoided. These lads don't slow the ball down by accident.

gsand

lolol and england have just won the world cup with a drop goal!!!!

Dempsey

No, drop goals are a good part of the game. Changing the rules because ONE player is a exceptional kicker is stupid