Confusion over new try bonus point

SOUTH Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby (SANZAAR) could not confirm a report that there is set to be a change in Super Rugby’s try-scoring bonus point system this season.

The report emerged from host broadcaster SuperSport’s website, which suggested that a bonus point for scoring four tries would no longer be automatic. Under the new system, a team would only be awarded a bonus point if they scored a minimum of four tries but also scored three more tries than their opposition.

So if Team A scored four tries, Team B would have to be limited to a maximum of one try for Team A to gain the bonus point. If Team B scored two tries, Team A would need to score five to secure a bonus point and so on. It’s a system used in the French Top 14, but SANZAAR would not confirm the change.

“That’s one of numerous law innovation pieces the board is discussing and we have to circle back to World Rugby before issuing anything formal,” a SANZAAR spokesman said.

The nature of any other potential changes was not made clear either, but it is believed the referee’s microphone will be broadcast over stadium loudspeakers at selected venues.

Given the tournament’s new format with 18 teams, which is already complicated, adding a late change to a system that fans are used to, so close to the start of the tournament, appears a desperate attempt to create hype.

The try-scoring bonus point law has always been arbitrary. It could just as easily been awarded for scoring five tries, or three. So this potential change is just another “innovation” aimed at creating more “excitement”.

Obviously, the aim is to encourage teams that secure their try-scoring bonus point early on to continue playing and not emptying the bench, which has been the case in the past.

The system could lead to fewer overall bonus points. Whether it leads to fewer tries will only be measurable at the end of the 2016 campaign.