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BY: BRET HARRIS From: The Australian December 06, 2011 12:00AM
FORMER Wallabies coach Rod Macqueen has thrown his support behind the trial of a new points-scoring system designed to promote attacking rugby.
The IRB has approved a trial in the South African Varsity Cup next year.
Under the experimental system, the value of a try would remain at five points, but conversions would increase from two to three points, while penalty goals and field goals decrease from three to two points.
The intention is to put more emphasis on try scoring without detracting from goal-kicking skills.
"It's worth looking at anything at the moment," said Macqueen, who was involved in the design of the experimental law variations which were trialled a few years ago and led to the introduction of several new laws which have improved the game.
"We have to keep an open mind. We need to look at it, but it's important changes are not made without understanding the consequences. There's often three or four ramifications because of one law change.
"It's difficult to know what would happen. On one hand it may encourage the attacking team to continue to attack. On the other hand it might encourage teams to infringe more. There are different ways it could go.
"We should always be trying to make the game better."
Under the experimental scoring system, a converted try would be worth eight points instead of seven and a team would have to kick four penalty goals or field goals to equal it.
Conversely, under the current scoring system, it only takes three penalty goals or field goals to surpass a converted try.
The system would certainly have the potential to alter results.
If the system was applied at the recent World Cup in New Zealand, the champion All Blacks would have lost 8-7 to France in the final instead of the other way around.
Supporters of the experimental system, including South African referees manager Andre Watson, expect more tries to be scored, but also imagine it could lead to more penalties being conceded on purpose.
But just because a team is awarded a penalty within kicking distance does not mean it has to attempt a shot at goal.
In the Wallabies' 24-18 win against Wales in Cardiff last Sunday Australian captain James Horwill turned down an attempt at penalty goal to pursue a try and was vindicated when halfback Will Genia scored. Whether Horwill would have made the same decision if Wales had not been reduced to 14 men because of a yellow card is hard to know.
But it is common practice in the NRL for teams to turn down shots at penalty goal to go for tries.
Under rugby league's scoring system, tries are worth four points, while conversions and penalty goals are two points each and field goals just one.
This means rugby league teams have to kick three penalty goals to equal a converted try and four to surpass it, which makes the scoring system in the 13-a-side code closer to the one being trialled in the South African Universities competition.
If the trial is successful, the South African Rugby Union could make a recommendation to have the experimental scoring system adopted at provincial and even Test level in 2013.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226214563164