Rugby World Cup-winning former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar explained the new Varsity Cup innovations is an attempt at getting the coaches to change their mindset and take more risks.

Speaking at the launch of the 2016 Varsity Cup and Shield competitions, Pienaar gave an insight into the reasoning behind the bonus point system, which could lead to a maximum of 9 points being awarded for a try.

“Innovation is a key product of Varsity Rugby. Each year we ask ourselves how we can come up with smart solutions to tackle the big issues that face South African rugby. One such thing we have thought about is continuing to push the boundaries of the points system.

“For the 1st time in the history of the game, you will see a 7-point and a 9-point try. The reason for this is because we want to reward running rugby and get the teams to play a more complete game.

“We are looking to enhance the game in the country and that involves getting the coaches to think about playing skillful rugby, taking risks and being rewarded for it. This will allow a team to have an opportunity to win a game when it seems almost impossible,” Pienaar said.

The World Cup winning captain, who launched the competition in 2008, added that the new points system will also see the introduction of Point of Origin referees – who will easily be identified by their pink uniforms and paddles.

“It is important to note that the bonus points are only awarded if it’s continual play. If a penalty is taken quickly, the play continues. However, if the team decides to kick the ball into touch, the origin of the play will be at the point of where the lineout is taken.

“Point of origin referees, who will be kitted out in pink uniforms and holding paddles, will indicate where the play originated from, thus making it easy to identify the amount of bonus points added if a try is scored,” he added.

In an attempt to stop the scrums from collapsing and taking away “valuable time from the spectators”, the setpiece will now have a pre-bin where the props will line up ear-to-ear – which brings the packs closer.

Another key aspect of the game which Pienaar sees as a “grey area” is the rolling maul and the different approach to the law, as will be seen in the Cup competition, is an attempt to make the understanding of the law a lot clearer.

“What is evident is that the leniency of ‘use it or lose it’ stretches between various referees. So the change you will notice in the Cup is that the referee will call ‘move forward’ and if the team fails to do so, he starts counting to 5, before calling ‘use it’ followed by a count of 3,” Pienaar explained.

Pienaar went on to say that people should not let the innovations distract them form the purpose of the competition.

“Make no mistake, we are promoting complete rugby and that is what we want to do. The most exciting thing about this game is watch a team score a try.

“We are enhancing the scrums with less down time, promoting dynamic mauls, empowering our officials by giving them more responsibility and challenging the coaches to embrace the paradigm of developing athletes and game plans in a complete rugby playbook,” he stated.

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