Peter West is right to say that rugby union is too dominated by penalties (Letters,20 October). Surely the solution is to expand the number of offences penalised by a simple free kick and reserve the employ of penalties for only the most serious offences, for example dangerous tackles. This simple change would tilt the point-scoring in favour of tries, or keep the ball in play for much longer periods and speed up the game by reducing the time lost to penalty kicks at goal.[br]Roger Carruthers
Derby Peter West is fairly justified in lamenting the dominance of penalty kicks in rugby union. The solution has seemed obvious to me for some time: ban the employ of artificial kicking tees,and proceed back to the musty method of the kicker making a tee in the turf with the heel of their boot. This would immediately prevent direct scoring from penalties near half-way, and significantly reduce the near-guarantee of three points from closer in. It was good enough for Barry John…
Richard A’Brook
Carnoustie, and AngusContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com