What if the Six Nations used a bonus point system?

One of the questions that has been raised after another points tied championship, is that of bonus points for tries.

It doesn't seem unreasonable that fans should want to see the same open rugby that we saw in the final weekend, but let's take a look at the statistics and see how feasible a bonus points system would be. For the purposes of this article, I will start back in the year 2000 at the founding of the current version of this competition, after Italy became the sixth nation.

In the 16 years that the six nations has been running, the trophy has only been awarded based on points difference a total of six times, the last three seasons being so. However, in that time, teams have won the grand slam a total of eight times, France and Wales sharing three-a-piece. So, over the seasons, points difference doesn’t really make too much of a difference, especially when the ultimate goal is to win the Grand Slam.

And here is where the interesting part with bonus points comes to the fore. In the 2002 championship, France won the Grand Slam by beating each team, however, if we apply a bonus points system (in line with other competitions, so one point for 4 tries or more and 1 for losing by less than 7), things look a little different.

England scored four tries against Scotland, five against Wales and six against both Ireland and Italy. They also only lost to France by 5 points so another bonus point there. England finished the championship with 8 points after 4 wins, but could have finished with 5 more, putting them on 13.

France only managed two tries against Italy, three against Wales, two in Paris winning over England, and three against Scotland before putting 5 on Ireland. Given that they beat everyone, this would give them the grand total of 1 extra point to add to their 10 Grand Slam points.

So, France won the Grand Slam, but would have lost the championship based on the bonus points rule (even excluding a losing bonus point).

I don’t know about you, but I would definitely prefer to beat everyone than to score a few more tries. Isn’t that what history remembers?

Filed under: Six Nations
Written by: Edward Kerr
Follow: @edwardrkerr · @therugbymag