Penalty shoot-out under review
May 05 2009
You know that old adage about it raining and pouring? Or the one about the buses that come in twos after a long wait?
It's the business end of the European rugby season, and while debate rages over who will win various things, there's one subject on which pretty much everyone is united: no more penalty shoot-outs! We've had one, now please, no more!
Apparently ERC Chief Executive Derek McGrath is set to review the system immediately, with even Leicester Chief Executive Peter Wheeler unhappy with it despite his side clinching a Heineken Cup Final berth on its virtues.
"Let's not get involved in the blame game here because this was unchartered territory for rugby and we are all learning, but I found that very uncomfortable to watch," said Wheeler to the Daily Telegraph.
"I lost interest very early on and could scarcely look. In rugby, above all games, you win together or lose together. It just didn't feel right.
"Just imagine if it had gone on for a couple more kicks. For all I know Martin Castrogiovanni or Gethin Jenkins might be useful goal-kickers, but almost certainly not, and how humiliating and illogical it would have been for two of the best in the world at what they do, having to decide a European Cup semi-final by attempting something that they never do."
McGrath has taken the widespread condemnation on board and is now looking at alternatives.
"We regularly look at every aspect of the competition as a matter of course and we are well aware that there are some widely differing views on penalty shoot-outs," said McGrath.
"This is the first time we have ever witnessed one in the raw at senior level and we will examine closely how it all went.
"We have already given the matter great thought over the years and considered it from every angle.
"Our season structure and the physical nature of top-level rugby simply does not allow for replays and does anybody really want a match decided on the toss of a coin? It surely has to be decided on the pitch somehow.
"We have also seriously considered a 'golden point', a first points on the board scenario, in sudden death extra time, but that is heaping huge pressure on the referees and the physical capabilities of players. Serious injuries are much more frequent when players are exhausted.
"We have also looked at the idea of bringing players off from each team at set intervals as you progress through extra time but we believe that alters the nature of the game too much.
"At one time we looked a slightly more complicated shoot-out scenario, along the lines of those regulations the IRB and Rugby World Cup have in place.
"In that you start with one kick in front of the posts on the 22 and then move the next kicks out to 15-metre line, right and left, before the next kick returns to in front of the posts. And so on in rotation until the five players have kicked or until you get a result."
Should one of the Guinness Premiership semi-final need a shoot-out this weekend, a slightly different system will operate.
This time, of the initial five 'penalties', the first will be in front of the posts on the 22, the second and third on the 15-metre line, and the fourth and fifth on the 5m line beside the 22; for all intents and purposes a touchline kick, meaning there would be a tactical element to who kicks when.
But it still isn't really rugby is it?