Inviato: 1 mar 2006, 17:40
Il dilemma non è cruciale, ma in questa settimana di riposo del torneo può comunque trovare ospitalità: <!-- BBCode Start --><B>il Sei Nazioni dovrebbe adottare il sistema dei bonus-point</B><!-- BBCode End -->? Come dice l'articolo qui sotto, preso da Planet Rugby (non l'ho tradotto perché il mio inglese è molto faticoso ed il traduttore automatico di google combina disastri quando la terminologia è specifica), il vecchio Six Nations è l'unico grande torneo ad aver conservato il vecchio formato di punteggio: 2 punti per la vittoria, 1 per il pareggio, zero per la sconfitta. Varrebbe la pena cambiare? Per me sì, per l'articolista di Planet Rugby decisamente no. Leggete il pezzo, se vi va
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<BR>SIX NATIONS IS HOLDING ON TO THE OLD FORMAT, BUT WHY?
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<BR>(by Danny Stephens)
<BR>
<BR>The Rugby World Cup has them. The Super 14 has them. The Guinness Premiership has them. The Celtic League, Top 14, Italian Super 10 - heavens above, even the German regional league has them! And if that little lot wasn't enough, that ring-fenced inter-time-zone melée down south has them. Two years ago, the Tri-Nations was decided entirely on them alone.
<BR>The Six Nations is the last remaining top level - possibly any level - rugby tournament yet to have succumbed to the lure of awarding bonus points to its competitor teams; either that smug one for four tries, or the sympathy vote for a defeat by less than seven points.
<BR>The bonus point has been a revolution since its introduction. Games that could have been dead in the final stages are spiced up, by the winning team's search for that elusive fourth try, or the losing team's quest to bring themselves to within seven points, or by the penalty that denies the opposition their consolation.
<BR>Teams have forever claimed advantages over long seasons by virtue of their bonus points. The Bulls' superior bonus point count in last year's Super 12 earned them third place - and the 'easier' away semi-final at the Waratahs instead of the Crusaders - over the Hurricanes, despite the Hurricanes winning more games.
<BR>Had Jeremy Staunton's kick for NEC Harlequins gone over in the last three minutes of the last Zurich Premiership season, the team relegated could have been the one with too few bonus points. Sale clinched a place in the Premiership play-offs because of them. Places 2, 3 and 4 in the Celtic League are currently sorted out on the basis of them. And as for the seedings and runners-up qualification slots in the Heineken Cup... just ask Perpignan, Leeds and Stade Français. The Catalans would have had their dream quarter-final in Barcelona if they had got the bonus point on offer in Calvisano. Two years ago, Gloucester went from Pool winners to also-rans in the split-second it took John Kelly to score a try in Limerick.
<BR>On and on the examples go, so surely it will soon be the logical step for Europe's cream to toe the line...
<BR>For the last four years, we have been lucky enough to witness consecutive Six Nations Grand Slams.
<BR>Apply the traditional bonus point format to any of those four years, i.e. four points for a win, two for a draw, and the bonus points as described above, and it matters not a jot to the standings. The winners would have won, full stop. Even the table placings are the same every time.
<BR>You have to go back to 2001 for the last 'shared' Six Nations, where England won by virtue of their vastly superior points difference over Ireland. Apply bonus points to that season and the English come out well on top as well. In 2000, when England lost the Grand Slam at Murrayfield, they were outright tournament winners anyway, and with bonus points, they are even clearer winners.
<BR>Bonus points make a difference in the long run. They sort out mid-table squabbles, seedings, and home play-off advantage. Bonus points are things to claim when you play away, and things to deny when you play at home. That's how South Africa won the 2004 Tri-Nations.
<BR>None of this comes into play in the Six Nations. Everybody plays for the Grand Slam to start with, that is the real prize. Bonus points take the gloss off it, they even make the winners of it vulnerable to not winning the tournament. If you can't win outright, who cares if a bonus point sneaks you into second spot or not? If you can sweep Europe clean, who would dare say that you were not the winners because another team scored lots of tries and lost one game narrowly?
<BR>Bonus points in the Six Nations would separate things that don't need to be separated. Who would venture that England's Grand slam of 2003 was better than France's of 2004, because they got more bonus points? Who cares if you come second rather than third? Anything below first is defeat.
<BR>Europe's premier tournament is the most brutal of all, because every game is a straight do-or-die affair. It thrives on its current format. You win: two points. You lose: zilch. There are no home-and-away legs, no long run, and only the most fortunate of teams could imagine making a difference to the final standings by claiming enough bonus points to make up for a defeat in the crucial game.
<BR>Keep the bonus points everywhere they already are, but leave the Six Nations alone. It is the nature of the tournament to either win or lose. Full stop. Bonus points won't make a difference over five weeks anyway. There just isn't the time.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>SIX NATIONS IS HOLDING ON TO THE OLD FORMAT, BUT WHY?
<BR>
<BR>(by Danny Stephens)
<BR>
<BR>The Rugby World Cup has them. The Super 14 has them. The Guinness Premiership has them. The Celtic League, Top 14, Italian Super 10 - heavens above, even the German regional league has them! And if that little lot wasn't enough, that ring-fenced inter-time-zone melée down south has them. Two years ago, the Tri-Nations was decided entirely on them alone.
<BR>The Six Nations is the last remaining top level - possibly any level - rugby tournament yet to have succumbed to the lure of awarding bonus points to its competitor teams; either that smug one for four tries, or the sympathy vote for a defeat by less than seven points.
<BR>The bonus point has been a revolution since its introduction. Games that could have been dead in the final stages are spiced up, by the winning team's search for that elusive fourth try, or the losing team's quest to bring themselves to within seven points, or by the penalty that denies the opposition their consolation.
<BR>Teams have forever claimed advantages over long seasons by virtue of their bonus points. The Bulls' superior bonus point count in last year's Super 12 earned them third place - and the 'easier' away semi-final at the Waratahs instead of the Crusaders - over the Hurricanes, despite the Hurricanes winning more games.
<BR>Had Jeremy Staunton's kick for NEC Harlequins gone over in the last three minutes of the last Zurich Premiership season, the team relegated could have been the one with too few bonus points. Sale clinched a place in the Premiership play-offs because of them. Places 2, 3 and 4 in the Celtic League are currently sorted out on the basis of them. And as for the seedings and runners-up qualification slots in the Heineken Cup... just ask Perpignan, Leeds and Stade Français. The Catalans would have had their dream quarter-final in Barcelona if they had got the bonus point on offer in Calvisano. Two years ago, Gloucester went from Pool winners to also-rans in the split-second it took John Kelly to score a try in Limerick.
<BR>On and on the examples go, so surely it will soon be the logical step for Europe's cream to toe the line...
<BR>For the last four years, we have been lucky enough to witness consecutive Six Nations Grand Slams.
<BR>Apply the traditional bonus point format to any of those four years, i.e. four points for a win, two for a draw, and the bonus points as described above, and it matters not a jot to the standings. The winners would have won, full stop. Even the table placings are the same every time.
<BR>You have to go back to 2001 for the last 'shared' Six Nations, where England won by virtue of their vastly superior points difference over Ireland. Apply bonus points to that season and the English come out well on top as well. In 2000, when England lost the Grand Slam at Murrayfield, they were outright tournament winners anyway, and with bonus points, they are even clearer winners.
<BR>Bonus points make a difference in the long run. They sort out mid-table squabbles, seedings, and home play-off advantage. Bonus points are things to claim when you play away, and things to deny when you play at home. That's how South Africa won the 2004 Tri-Nations.
<BR>None of this comes into play in the Six Nations. Everybody plays for the Grand Slam to start with, that is the real prize. Bonus points take the gloss off it, they even make the winners of it vulnerable to not winning the tournament. If you can't win outright, who cares if a bonus point sneaks you into second spot or not? If you can sweep Europe clean, who would dare say that you were not the winners because another team scored lots of tries and lost one game narrowly?
<BR>Bonus points in the Six Nations would separate things that don't need to be separated. Who would venture that England's Grand slam of 2003 was better than France's of 2004, because they got more bonus points? Who cares if you come second rather than third? Anything below first is defeat.
<BR>Europe's premier tournament is the most brutal of all, because every game is a straight do-or-die affair. It thrives on its current format. You win: two points. You lose: zilch. There are no home-and-away legs, no long run, and only the most fortunate of teams could imagine making a difference to the final standings by claiming enough bonus points to make up for a defeat in the crucial game.
<BR>Keep the bonus points everywhere they already are, but leave the Six Nations alone. It is the nature of the tournament to either win or lose. Full stop. Bonus points won't make a difference over five weeks anyway. There just isn't the time.