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READER REPORT: I watched the Highlanders vs Rebels game in Dunedin and the southern men kicked a penalty after the hooter to win.
Prior to that though, the team seemed hell-bent on kicking to the corner and turned down as many as five kickable penalties in the pursuit of tries or converted tries, succeeding on maybe one occasion if that.
The commentary team for the game noted how often they had done so, and also, the irony that kicking penalties only became an option in the last 10 minutes when the Rebels got reduced to 14 men.
Now, I have watched the game of rugby for a long time and this current mindset probably began in 2016 when Sanzaar, the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship, changed the try scoring bonus point system from only needing to score four tries to get a bonus point, to having to be three tries ahead of their opposition.
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Needing to be three tries ahead has driven this mindset to score five or seven points (tries) instead of three points (penalties), but depending on the teams involved, it’s not always successful.
Of course, New Zealand often sees itself as the style guru of world rugby, and we would rather chance our arm at scoring tries, rather than kicking at goal, but occasionally that mindset has caught us out.
One of the things that came out of the disastrous 2007 World Cup quarter final defeat to France was the apparent reluctance to try a drop goal when in prime field position. They thought they could score a try to win, and only attempted a drop goal in the last minute and when 50m from the goal posts, which landed well short.
Then in the 2018 and 2020 Wellington test matches between the Springboks and Wallabies respectively, they found themselves in prime position to kick a goal to win the games, but instead, tried and failed to score tries on both occasions. They lost in 2018, and drew the 2020 encounter.
We often view three point scoring plays as a negative tactic used by the Northern Hemisphere nations, and so, our mindset is to look to score tries.
When the All Blacks reach the knock-out stages of a World Cup, and there’s no such thing as a try scoring bonus point and tighter defences limiting the try scoring opportunities, will they want to build scoreboard pressure by kicking three pointers?
England suffocated the All Blacks in the 2019 semifinal, scoring an early try. They then built scoreboard pressure by kicking penalties, eventually winning 19-7 (although they had two tries disallowed during the game).
I don’t want to see the New Zealand teams go the complete opposite way from where they are now, and start playing 10 man rugby, kicking mostly penalties and drop goals. I would like to see them more prepared to use them when necessary to build scoreboard pressure.
I think that would serve the All Blacks a lot better at the international level, especially at a World Cup, where come the knockout stages, winning games is all that matters, even if it is a bit ugly.
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