Time for a Six Nations bonus?
Post categories: Rugby
| 13:26 UK time, Friday, 23 March 2007
After what had gone before it was no surprise that the RBS Six Nations came to such a dramatic finale last Saturday, and with the last play in Paris the headline writers were rubbing their hands with glee.
Before and after the last round of matches there was talk about whether it was fair that was not happening at the same time as the France v Scotland match, or indeed in Cardiff, and suggestions that all three should have been forced to play at the same time. Thanks for all your comments on the various blogs on this topic.
Of course, I have to declare an interest here as editor of 91Èȱ¬'s coverage but I do believe this would be an over-reaction and counter-productive to the tournament overall. For the second year running 91Èȱ¬ coverage has attracted record viewing figures for the Six Nations, which, as the competition's chief executive John Feehan says, would not be possible if three games had to happen simultaneously. This is against a backdrop of falling TV audiences
But my main argument is that as a rugby fan it would be a shame to not see all the action unfold live, especially when it is as gripping as last weekend. The fixture list does rotate so that the same side does not have the advantage every year and we must recall that there are other anomalies in this great tournament - for instance, every year three teams have three home games and the other three only two.
Don't forget it wasn't too long ago (1973) that the Five Nations with two wins each, even points difference wasn't considered back then!
But what I would suggest to the Six Nations Committee is that perhaps it considers introducing the bonus-point system that now operates in competitions such as the World Cup, Tri-Nations, Heineken Cup, Guinness Premiership and the
Ironically if the system of a bonus point for four tries or for losing by seven or less points had been in place it would have been Ireland who would have been crowned as Six Nations champions this year, a point ahead of France.
- Still on the Six Nations, it has been great to see the hundreds of entries and comments on your Team of the Tournament. A massive diversity of opinion here as you would expect. For what it's worth my top player of the tournament was Gordon D'Arcy, an outstanding figure in each of Ireland's five games.
He was closely followed by team-mate David Wallace and France's scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, who showed coach Bernard Laporte what he had missed against England with another superb display in that French comeback against Scotland.
- After last weekend's huge Anglo-Welsh clash at the Millennium Stadium, we have the Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-final double-header at the same venue. And we'll definitely have an Anglo-Welsh final, as we have one semi that's all-English while the second is an all-Welsh affair.
And they are two big clashes though with in a repeat of last year's Premiership final, and what the Welsh press is billing as a big grudge match between
Both matches are with the all-English clash on 91Èȱ¬1 from 2.15pm and the second game on 91Èȱ¬2 from 5.00pm.
