i dont blame sheffield but i think the rfl mustve been totally mashed when they came up with the rule

It does not seem to be fair on the other teams, but if you look at the table, Sheffield are now the third highest points scorers and they have the third least points scored against.

I think they deserve some credit for what they have achieved.

If they keep the bonus point for losing by so few, maybe they should consider awarding a bonus point for winning by a set margin.

well said lad

The league should be ranked by points, solely based on wins and draws. If two teams are on the same number of points in the table, then that's when the bonus points should kick in - I'd prefer this to points for/against overall.

There's no such thing as failure, it's deferred success.

I really believe the bonus point scheme is a fair and well-structured system. It encourages teams in a losing position to keep fighting and playing with enthusiasm to grab an extra point- hense creating much more exciting and 2-sided affairs. I also believe teams who lose by a small margain deserve some form of reward for their competitiveness and effort. Ok, losing teams do not deserve as much as winning teams, which justifys why the bonus point is only one single point. But i believe the bonus point is improving the quality of the rugby and the competitiveness of the matches, i do believe losing teams sometimes deserve rewarding.

You can't look at the bonus point in isolation without acknowledging that you also now get an extra point for winning and drawing.

The fact is that you don't get that extra point only if you lose by 12+.

So, if you really don't want to reward failure, the bonus point is exactly what you are after.

Bonus point for a big win won't happen. The League want to encourage closer games so they're hardly likely to reward a team for a "blow-out" score.

I agree to a point.

However, there are always 4 points on offer unless you win by more than 12.

I.e win by 12 or less; 3pts winning team 1pt losing team.

Draw the game; 2pts each team.

Yet if you win by more than 12 it is just 3pts wining team 0pts losing team.

Feels like we are rewarding negative play but not positive. Surely there should be 4pts available for every game and reward teams for winning by larger margins? So if you win by more than 12 then 3pts for winning plus a bonus point??

Yes, i agree. Although i think the Rfl have done this simply to reduce the chances of teams running away of the league and to make all the teams seperated by as few points as possible.

Wait for the time when a team looses 10 nil and gets a bonus point for not scoring a single point in the match and at the same time a team loses 30 - 16 and doesnt. The team who couldnt even score a single point in a match gets a bonus point when a team who tried doesnt. See if thats fair....

The Bonus point is a dead in the water concept. The sooner the RFL ditch this sill idea the better.

But in the old system a team just tries to win the game or at least draw it - although draws are rare they do reward the effort to get even on the scoreboard and something out of the game.
With a bonus point teams are just trying to keep the score down at the death to get one, I do not honestly beileve that a team is trying to settle for a BP for most of the game they are trying to win it. A BP just happens either because the opposition take their foot off the gas or late on a team realises it may get one but for 70 minutes both teams are probably blissfully unaware of the BP possibility so how is it keeping scores down???
What keeps scores down is more evenly matched teams, which cannot be manufactured as the RFL seem to be trying to suggest with the BP system.
It is a negative move for me as a win is what I want a team to be going for or a least a draw not to lose a match rfor a bonus point.
I bet the Aussies don't have this rule???

CORRECT ! They have Aussie rules.


We drew a game at Cas in the cup and eventually lost in extra time, is this any different, considering our team gave their all but still managed to get nothing out of the game ?

Yes its completely different. Although I dont like the golden point, it was a titanic attempt. The bonus point system is rewarding failure.

Definately see your point re rewarding failure but not totally against it as it can be seen as rewarding the fans in a sense. If your team is getting stuffed (as we were on Friday) the fans can cling to the hope of a bonus point for the extra effort in theory, therefore making it a bit more worthwhile if you know your team is out of it re a victory.

I see where you are coming from, but like I said earlier a team could loose 10 - 0 and be awarded a bonus point.