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Former England coach Clive Woodward supports the idea of bonus points in the Six Nations.
Idea

Clive Woodward thinks bonus points in the Six Nations are the way forward

“Rugby’s a great game when it’s played properly,” the former England coach added.

FOLLOWING THE EXCITING climax to the 2015 Six Nations, Clive Woodward has called for the tournament to introduce a bonus-point system.

The final weekend of action saw four teams still in with a chance of winning the title, which was eventually claimed by Ireland on points difference ahead of England and Wales.

A remarkable 221 points were scored over the three matches on the last day, as the challenging teams looked to give themselves a large enough margin of victory to lift the trophy.

The domestic leagues employ a system that sees bonus points awarded for scoring four tries or more, or losing by seven points or fewer, and 2003 World Cup-winning coach Woodward believes a similar system would encourage sides to play more attacking rugby.

“It’s the only time we’ve seen it, certainly the only time I can remember watching a Six Nations where I thought ‘well if the Australians and the All Blacks are watching this they’ll be quite impressed’ because we can play the game like this,” he said in quotes reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Rugby’s a great game when it’s played properly, but when you’re not going out there to score tries and you’re going out there to defend and play field position, sometimes rugby isn’t a great spectacle for general sports fans.

“In the Six Nations, I think it would be a really good, interesting thing to look closely at, in terms of how the scoring does work.

“The use of bonus points for a certain number of tries, or for keeping the margin to a certain number.

“I have to say the World Cup’s been working like that, we’ve always had pretty good World Cups so far. But it was an interesting day for the Six Nations because it was without doubt the best Six Nations day in the history of the competition.”

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