OPINION: What should we make of Varsity Cup’s latest innovation – the tap or kick rule?

If watched some of the first-round matches of this season’s Varsity Cup competition on Monday and seen a team score a try and then another try from a quick-tap penalty, within two minutes of each other, for a 10-point score you might have wondered what the heck was going on.

Well, it’s the Varsity Cup and for as long as I can remember they’ve pushed the boundaries when it has come to the laws of the game and experimented with all sorts of things.

Some of these experiments have been good and well thought-out, others have been silly. We’ve seen everything from the “white card” to the “point-of-origin try”.

There’s been a lot to take in. But, in all honesty, Varsity Cup’s latest innovation – the tap or kick rule – is the most out-there I’ve seen. But what a game-changing tweak this could prove to be over the coming weeks.

‘High risk, big reward’

So, this is what it’s all about.

After scoring a try, the attacking team now has a choice to kick for the traditional two-point conversion, taking their total to seven points, or tap and launch an immediate attacking play from the 22-metre line for the chance to score an additional try worth five points. This must happen within 120 seconds.

If the tap option is successful a team can walk away with a full 10 points from a single scoring sequence.

The marketers are calling it “rugby’s version of a power play. High risk, big reward.”

No scrums or lineouts are allowed in the tap-play and should the defending team win the ball and score a try of their own they’d get five points.

It’s all about promoting attacking rugby. And you can be sure this tap option will be taken up more often than kicking a conversion for the extra two points only. It’s a no-brainer.

While it’s certainly innovative and exciting and gives teams who’re trailing by seven or eight points at the death a chance to win the game, it will be interesting to see if it catches on elsewhere in the game.

The thing is, rugby is already so complicated, with so many laws so open to interpretation and subjectivity, you’ve got to wonder if it’s good for the game and even necessary.