Cape Town - Former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar says the new innovations that will feature in this year’s Varsity Cup could help the Springboks and South African rugby on their journey to playing a “complete brand of rugby”.
Teams will get bonus points allocated for tries depending on where their attack started.
A try will still be worth five points, but if a team scores from a move that started between the halfway line and the opponents’ 22m line, then the scoring team will be awarded two extra points.
If the move starts in the attacking side’s own half, and they keep possession throughout and score, then four points will be allocated to make the try nine points.
A conversion will still be worth three points. So, in essence, a converted try could be worth 12 points!
There seems to be move in South African Rugby to keep more of the ball and play the situation after the Springboks bowed out at the semi-final stage of the World Cup last year.
It’s something that Heyneke Meyer started to move towards during his tenure, but failed to take forward after losses to Argentina and Japan last year.
Pienaar says the new changes to the scoring will encourage coaches to think outside the box, which in the long run will help them grow as mentors in terms having more than one gameplan.
“We want to reward running rugby. And why are we doing it? It’s about complete rugby,” said Pienaar, who was one of founding members of this competition which kicked off in 2008.
“This is how we get the coaches to think about complete rugby and skilful rugby, taking risk and being rewarded for it.
“Having the opportunity to win the game when people think the game is over, is also another exciting part of it.”
Most of the Varsity Cup and the Varsity Shield teams will have new, and familiar, faces at the helm this year. Former Springboks Hendro Scholtz (Shimlas), Chester Williams (University of the Western Cape), and Hanyani Shimange (Ikey Tigers) will be in charge of their respective teams for the first time this year.
While the focus is always on the players coming through, with 16 Varsity Cup players already having played Test rugby in the past seven years, the new coaches will also be in the spotlight to see if they can do well and move to the next level.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been back in South African rugby structures as a coach. It’s not going to be easy, but I’m quite excited about the challenge,” Williams told the Cape Times.
“It’s probably the stepping stone to the next level. If players can come through then obviously coaches can also come through. The next level will be the Currie Cup and Super Rugby.”
Shimange, a former Springbok hooker, has been in the UCT structures for a few years, while he was also on Robbie Fleck’s Western Province management team that won the national Under-21 last year.
“I’m just looking forward to the next game. You have got to try and get the right results and make it a fun experience. I think it’s a great opportunity for everyone who wants to coach,” Shimange said.
Maties haven’t had the best of times over the last few years, but experienced coach Hawies Fourie has been brought in to try and help go back to the glory days they experienced in the first few editions of the competition.
“There is some pressure, because everyone wants to see results.
“There are a lot of challenges, but I’m looking forward to the season,” Fourie said.
The former Cheetahs assistant coach is attack guru and a wily coach. So these rule changes are right up his alley. He warned, though, that the teams shouldn’t neclect their defence.
“I’m looking to see how we can exploit these new rules. You have to kick the ball now and again, but this will certainly get teams to play some high-risk rugby, because the reward is there,” he said.
“But you still have to do the basics well, and kicking well is one of those.”
Cape Times