Ireland v England - Rugby Union

[London Irish]

Pleased by the result but disappointed by the amount of kicking - very negative by both teams just relying on opposition mistakes from kicks rather than build any play with ball in hand. We remain a long way behind New Zealand in creativity and this is purely a coaching issue, the raw talent is the same in both hemispheres. The only way I can see Ireland or England winning the World Cup is if the Aussies or the French do their usual one great game a year and take out the All Blacks

 

[London Irish]

Why do the RFU choose not to pick foreign players?

Same old rugby politics - the old farts who run the international teams don't want to see the clubs become as powerful as they are in football - so that means in this case not allowing prized international assets like the top players being owned by foreign clubs. With the England skipper at 7 I guess they can think they can do without steffon

 

[drew]

Why do the RFU choose not to pick foreign players?

Possibly because their idiots. Flight from Toulon to London is about 2 hours, assuming the UK players use cars or trains, what is the difference in the journey times. Only real reason might be that RFU don't have control of availability if he's contracted to Toulon!

 

[BensGrandad]

I am not an expert on rugby by any stretch of the imagination but notice that teams are winning games purely on kicking and I always thought the idea of rugby was to go for tries so how about the points be changed to only 1 for a penalty or kicked goal and leave the try and conversion the same. That would encourage running as 1 try would wipe out 4 penalties.

 

[BensGrandad]

Possibly because their idiots. Flight from Toulon to London is about 2 hours, assuming the UK players use cars or trains, what is the difference in the journey times. Only real reason might be that RFU don't have control of availability if he's contracted to Toulon!

That flight time is irrelevant as the England team spend nearly a week together prior to a game. When playing
at Twickenham they stay at a hotel in Bagshot or did when I did a relief at a pub near there a few years ago.

 

[BensGrandad]

I am not an expert on rugby by any stretch of the imagination but notice that teams are winning games purely on kicking and I always thought the idea of rugby was to go for tries so how about the points be changed to only 1 for a penalty or kicked goal and leave the try and conversion the same. That would encourage running as 1 try would wipe out 4 penalties.

I am surprised there has been no comment from fans of rugby who would be more knowledgeable than me.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

I am surprised there has been no comment from fans of rugby who would be more knowledgeable than me.

Are you really?

 

[Titanic]

I am not an expert on rugby by any stretch of the imagination but notice that teams are winning games purely on kicking and I always thought the idea of rugby was to go for tries so how about the points be changed to only 1 for a penalty or kicked goal and leave the try and conversion the same. That would encourage running as 1 try would wipe out 4 penalties.

It is a balance though... if you don't penalise foul play with a decent points scoring opportunity, then you will encourage teams to do it even more. If you try and counterbalance it with more yellow cards/sin-binning that would get ridiculous and unsafe in the case of forwards.

Ireland were the better side, and they won... so that seems to have worked out OK?

 

[Hampster Gull]

I am surprised there has been no comment from fans of rugby who would be more knowledgeable than me.

Others choose to answer their own questions, perhaps you could do that

 

[Brovion]

I am surprised there has been no comment from fans of rugby who would be more knowledgeable than me.

The thinking is that if the kickable penalties were only one point teams would commit far more fouls knowing that the punishment wouldn't be nearly so severe. You'd actually see less rugby and hear far more from the referee's whistle.

 

[BensGrandad]

What about increasing the conversion to the same as a try? My idea is for teams to try more for tries rather than rely on kicking from minor infringements.

 

[Titanic]

What about increasing the conversion to the same as a try? My idea is for teams to try more for tries rather than rely on kicking from minor infringements.

so you just end up with a tiresome game full of minor infringements. As I said, it is a balance... and the result on Sunday was the right one.

 

[BensGrandad]

so you just end up with a tiresome game full of minor infringements. As I said, it is a balance... and the result on Sunday was the right one.

Not disputing the result but I was under the impression the object was to score tries and all games are now being won by the best kickers as shown this weekend with Ireland and Wales. Perhaps football should follow suit and give half a goal for corners and let every team stop trying to score a goal and get as many corners as possible.

Surely making a conversion the same points as the try would give teams the incentive to get a try because they can get an extra 5 points making a try and conversion worth a healthy 10 points.

 

[Titanic]

Ireland were awarded kickable penalties because they put England under pressure with good attacking play. It was entertaining and exciting to watch. Your comparison with football is ridiculous.

 

[BensGrandad]

As was pointed out nowadays most penalties are kickable. I am not convinced it is the right approach but the number of times I watch rugby I wouldnt be missed if I never watched another game. Just an outsiders observations

 

[Brovion]

Not disputing the result but I was under the impression the object was to score tries and all games are now being won by the best kickers as shown this weekend with Ireland and Wales. Perhaps football should follow suit and give half a goal for corners and let every team stop trying to score a goal and get as many corners as possible.

Surely making a conversion the same points as the try would give teams the incentive to get a try because they can get an extra 5 points making a try and conversion worth a healthy 10 points.

No it isn't, the object of the game is to win and there are a number of ways to achieve that. A 'try' is so-called because it allows you to 'try' for a kick at goal.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think the points system during the match in rugby union is correct.

However, I believe that it is time for the Six Nations to follow the lead of the Southern hemisphere competition and the Aviva Premiership and replicate their points system for bonus points for 4 tries or more and losing by 7 or less. This produces a more attacking brand of rugby.

In theory a side winning every match in a grand slam by a small margin could get the same number of points as a side they defeated who won the rest of their games and scored 4+ tries in the process. However, provided the caveat of head-to-head result is included - rather than points differential - then the integrity of the competition would be protected.

If the points system isn't reformed there is a danger the disparity between the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere sides will become entrenched.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

a converted try is worth more than 2 penalties

being worth more than 3 wouldn't be right

I think the balance is about right

I think where football can learn from rugby is the sin bin,far too many football games are ruined by 2 yellows,10 minutes in the sin bin would be quite an advantage without completely making the game a non event

 

[drew]

That flight time is irrelevant as the England team spend nearly a week together prior to a game. When playing
at Twickenham they stay at a hotel in Bagshot or did when I did a relief at a pub near there a few years ago.

Pennyhill Hotel.

 

[drew]

I think the point about penalties is that any one in the opponents half is kickable, whether it be offside or serous foul play. If you restricted the type of transgression that allowed a kick at goal that would surely encourage playing for territory, and aiming for tries. Persistent transgression of minor infringements could still result in sin bins or penalty tries etc.