by Paul Cook –

Of all the adopted law changes that have formed a part of the ground breaking NRC competition, the points scoring system is perhaps the one that has had the most affect on the mindset of a team and/or its coaching staff.

The awarding of eight points for a converted try has unequivocally achieved its desired impact to reduce penalty shots for goal, with a mere eight attempts being made across the nine matches so far. Allowing for the fact that four of those nine games were impacted by rain – three directly and one residually – which brings a whole new and typically pragmatic approach to the game, and that we have seen a total of 72 tries – eight per game – the move can only be deemed an unmitigated success.

However, if the intended by-product of a decrease in penalty shots at the posts was the reduced influence of a golden boot in a team’s armoury, the flipside has been that the advent of 3pts for a conversion, has meant that the accuracy of your goal kicker has perhaps never been more paramount.

Missing a couple of conversions when in control of a match, as a few teams have already found out, can come back to bite you big time when two successful conversions are now worth more than a try.

In the opening match of the inaugural competition, the Sydney Stars dominated Brisbane City in the first half and notched up four tries by the break. However, the normally reliable Stu Dunbar had one of those nights off the tee and failed to land a conversion, while City kicker Jake McIntryre dissected the posts with his two attempts at extras meaning his side went to the sheds only 4pts down at 20-16, despite being outscored by four tries to two.

Stu Dunbar had ‘one of those nights’ with the boot against Brisbane City but did his four missed conversions make that big an impact on the outcome of the game?
Photo: AJF Photography

Round 2 saw the Greater Sydney Rams cross twice early on but fail to add the extras, while the Canberra Vikings regrouped and two converted tries saw them with a 6pt lead at the break. While Rams head coach Brian Melrose had no complaints at the final whistle when the Vikings went on to win 37-18 – “All credit to Canberra, they were too strong for us in the end” – he isn’t a fan of the trial points system.

“Clearly the conversions are a big part of the game for all teams and I believe the scoring system is wrong,” he told Rugby News after the match. “It’s almost like a conversion contest at the moment, it seems to have such a massive influence on things.”

For Melrose, the intention of the points change is a positive one that he agrees with, he’d just like to see a subtle change. “It should be six points for a try and two for a conversion, it’s actually put too much emphasis on the kick when what we’re actually trying to do is incentivise tries but it is the same for every team.”

His kicker on the night, Ben Volavola, admitted the points scenario brings a different dimension to the game. “It sort of plays with your head because you think you’ve scored two tries and you’re going well but the other team might score one and convert and then they’re just 2pts behind you,” he said. “We could have taken three penalty shots early in the game but that’s only worth 6pts now, it’s just going to take some time to get used to I guess.”

So, what do you think?

Do you like the new points system as it is? Should it be six and two points instead of five and three? Or, did you like it just the way it was so stop messing around with things!!

Let us know your thoughts.

****************************

Rams Ready To Strike

The Rams meanwhile, head to Adelaide this afternoon in search of their maiden victory in the competition. Minor Premiers in the 2007 ARC under their original incarnation as the Western Sydney Rams, the new breed have struggled to find a rhythm, consistency and structure to their performances so far as they play catch-up to sides that are some way ahead in terms of training time.

They take on Perth Spirit at the Adelaide Airport Stadium, the game moved from the Spirit’s Western Australian base in a bid to take rugby’s third tier to an area not renowned for it’s rugby history and to the only state (excluding Tasmania) not to have representation in the NRC.

Captain Jed Holloway saw signs of the side the Rams can be in that loss to the Vikings, it’s now a case of doing it week in, week out and for a full game. “It showed what our shape can do when we execute and we’ve got belief in it but you can see we get away from it pretty easily just because we haven’t played together very much,” he told Rugby News. “It’s coming and we’re all excited to play and we’re ready to go but it’s got to be an 80 minute performance, not just good footy at the start.

“We had a lot of good attacking opportunities but we just didn’t capitalise on them,” he continued. “This is a better standard of footy and teams are going to score points against us if we don’t capitalise on those situations. The Vikings are a good side and they definitely did that but we’ll be better for it.”

Rams’ skipper Jed Holloway goes in for his side’s 3rd try against the Canberra Vikings last week but it wasn’t enough on the night – Photo: J.B Photography

Flyhalf Ben Volavola concurred. “We made holes [against the Vikings], it’s just that final pass that didn’t go to hand or we dropped the ball,” he said. “You can see the way we want to play from that first 20 minutes, the intent was there it was just the execution that was lacking. In a team environment, you just have to trust the blokes alongside you. We created opportunities because we trusted each other and we know what each other can do, it’s just a case of converting them.”

The Rams have had their biggest period of time together as a group since the loss, a full ten days which has taken in team bonding, rigorous preparation and training as well as some well earned rest for players that came in to week one straight off the back of 20 weeks of club rugby with no bye.

For Holloway, the chance to build as a team off the pitch is as crucial to their progress as their combined abilities on the field. “We think coming together as a group is more important than our structures at the moment and if you want to play for the guy next to you then you’re going to be stronger than anything out there,” he reasoned.

“Ten days is double the amount of prep we’ve had so far so and really give us the chance to tinker with a few things and see what works for us and what doesn’t and I think against Perth Spirit you’ll see a much better Rams side. We’ll fine tune our game a lot more and I think you’ll see a much more attacking side in Adelaide.”