Bonus points in Six Nations?

[Helmy]

The reason for them is an incentive for attractive rugby. If you look at the matches they're more or less even on total tries scored and average tries per match - however if you remove Italy and to a lesser extent Scotland - there are considerably less tries scored. Basically it rewards positive rugby - where as from a neutral perspective some of the 6 Nations games can be very dull.

I understand where you're coming from, but you can't really tell me that Southern Hemisphere rugby would be any less expansive if there weren't bonus points? The Heineken Cup etc. have bonus points, but there are still a lot of games played over there that we would deem as boring. When really I think the reason NH scores end up being low is because some of the pitches over there are bloody awful and chop up under foot within ten minutes of the game being played.

 

[Joseph14]

The 6 nations doesn't need tweaking at all.

It is built on hundreds of years of fairly intense, local, national rivalry ( and Italy! )
Wins and not wins by enough points to gain a bonus point, are the order of the day, nothing more.

 

[Jockstap]

Where's that fellow who normally turns up at this point saying the laws need to be changed? Maybe by playing without a ball, 5-tackle limits or the addition of pads and helmets?

Right here big boy, I reckon they should at least give it a trial run for a year. It would make the games far more exciting. The BP system is one of the reasons that make the HC so exciting. I have no problem if the team who wins the Grandslam wins the competition. A similar thing happens nearly every year in our leagues with the playoff systems, Leinster officially won their league on points for the last three seasons.

 

[Teh Mite]

 

[TPenn]

The reason for them is an incentive for attractive rugby. If you look at the matches they're more or less even on total tries scored and average tries per match - however if you remove Italy and to a lesser extent Scotland - there are considerably less tries scored. Basically it rewards positive rugby - where as from a neutral perspective some of the 6 Nations games can be very dull.

Bonus points won't fix the two main reasons some games are dull. Firstly, the conditions often mean running rugby is not an option. Secondly, apart from Italy and Scotland, the other four are generally very well matched in terms of ability, resulting in what are normally close games won often by tactics and defence.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Bonus points won't fix the two main reasons some games are dull. Firstly, the conditions often mean running rugby is not an option. Secondly, apart from Italy and Scotland, the other four are generally very well matched in terms of ability, resulting in what are normally close games won often by tactics and defence.

Exactly!! The best solution would be to let everyone play at Millenium Stadium, with the roof closed

 

[psychic duck]

Exactly!! The best solution would be to let everyone play at Millenium Stadium, with the roof closed

... and on a pitch so bad everybody falls over.

 

[Big Ewis]

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3820_8423118,00.html

 

[erwanseb]

Bonus points are fair when the tournament is played on home and away basis or on neutral ground.
In the super XV, it would even up due a larger number of fixtures, but that is not the case in the 6N where teams have either 3 away and 2 home fixtures or 3 home and 2 away fixtures.
Playing three away fixtures is already a very serious burden, looking at past results , 70% of winners of the 6 Nations had 3 home fixtures.
The bonus point would give an even greater advantage to teams with 3 home fixtures and amplify that trend , not a good thing IMO.

 

[Shaggy]

... it's not broken ... don't fix it ... I think the current interpretations of the rules, promote the use of keeping the ball inhand/running rugby, so the scoring of tries is probably going to take care of itself anyway (if that's what equates to entertaining rugby)

 

[sigesige00]

I am absolutely opposed to bonus point system. Bonus point system must be abolished in any competition immediately.