Super Rugby Bosses SANZAR are set to unveil a new set of bonus points and rules
for the 2016 Super Rugby season.
SANZAR has chosen to follow France’s Top14 Rugby competition by changing the
four try bonus point rule.
Super Rugby teams will now need to score three more tries than their opposition
to earn the bonus point instead of scoring four tries regardless of how many
tries the opposition has scored.
The idea behind the move is to motivate teams to play attacking rugby even
if the contest is a lopsided.
Historically teams would go out and score four tries and secure the victory
but allow their opposition back into the game and potentially score four tries
and earn the losing bonus point.
Under the new rules the team in front on the scoreboard would have to keep
pressing for the bonus point to ensure that they keep three tries ahead.
The current rule in which Super Rugby teams are rewarded for losing within
seven points or less will remain intact.
The new bonus point system was given the go ahead as the SANZAR conference
in which all 18 teams were present. It will now go to the SANZAR board for approval
and an announcement is expected soon after that meeting.
The new rules will be adopted in Super Rugby and if it is successful a decision
will be made on whether to include it in the The Rugby Championship later this
year.
In other news the TMO rules will revert to the way they were in 2013 and when
a TMO was only allowed to rule on the act of scoring a Try and Foul play.
The act of scoring a try means the grounding and how it happened.
– If there is doubt about who first grounded the ball, that is a case for the
TMO.
– If there is doubt about whether the potential try scorer properly grounded
the ball, that is a case for the TMO.
– Whether the ball-carrier is in touch or touch-in-goal or not, that is a case
for the TMO.
– Whether the dead-ball line came into play before the grounding of the ball,
is a case for the TMO.
Incidents such as like knock-ons and forward passes in the last two phases
when a potential try has been scored are not reviewable.
