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Bonus points are group tournament points awarded in
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
tournaments in addition to the standard points for winning or drawing a match. Bonus points were implemented in order to encourage attacking play throughout a match, to discourage repetitive
goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...
-kicking, and to reward teams for "coming close" in losing efforts.


Standard system

The most common point system is: * 4 points for winning a match * 2 points for drawing a match * 0 points for losing a match * 1 losing bonus point for losing by 7 points (or fewer) * 1 try bonus point for scoring (at least) 4 tries, regardless of the outcome. In this system, winning teams get 4 or 5 points; drawing teams 2 or 3 points; and losing teams between 0 and 2 points.


Variant systems


France

The French professional league,
Ligue Nationale de Rugby The French National Rugby League (french: Ligue Nationale de Rugby), known as the LNR, manages the professional rugby sector in France, by delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the French Rugby Federation. LNR * organises, manages and ...
(LNR), uses a similar system in its two competitions, the
Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...
and
Rugby Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...
. After trialling the system in 2007–08, LNR adopted the new system permanently after that season. The French system awards points in this manner: *4 points for a win. *2 points for a draw. *1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. *1 "bonus" point for losing by no more than a specified margin. Through the 2013–14 season, the margin was 7 points; starting in 2014–15, the margin was reduced to 5. This system prevents a losing team from picking up two bonus points in the same match, as is possible under the normal system. It also means that neither team earns a bonus point in a drawn match.


Australian NRC (2014–2016)

For its first three seasons from 2014 to 2016, the
National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...
of Australia used a system somewhat similar to that of France: *4 points for a win. *2 points for a draw. *1 "bonus" point for winning while scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. *1 "bonus" point for losing by no more than 8 points (the value of a converted try under the law variations used during those seasons). In 2017 the NRC (including a team in Fiji) reverted to the standard scoring values of five points for a try, two for a conversion and three for a penalty or drop goal. The bonus point system therefore fell into line with the SANZAAR system widely adopted in that year.


SANZAAR

In 2016,
Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
in the SANZAAR countries of Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, also with a team in Japan, switched from the standard system to the original French system, i.e. *4 points for a win. *2 points for a draw. *1 "bonus" point for scoring at least 3 more tries than the opponent. *1 "bonus" point for losing by no more than 7 points (the value of a converted try). SANZAAR extended this change to
The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a s ...
, contested by the men's national teams of its four member countries, in 2017.


Six Nations

The 2017 Six Nations Championship used the standard bonus points system on a trial basis, with the added feature that a team winning the
Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...
would earn three extra bonus points to ensure that a grand slam winning team is guaranteed to win the tournament. Six Nations tournaments also award a bonus point to any team that scores four tries or more, regardless of the outcome, meaning that a losing team can score up to two points if they score four tries and lose by seven points or less.


Tables

Bonus points are typically listed in the group standings table, as for example the BP column in 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool B: : More detailed tables may list losing-bonus points and tries-bonus points separately, as respectively the LB and TB columns in the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 2 table: :


Details

This format was created for
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
's domestic competition, the
National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship, o ...
, in 1995 and subsequently adopted in the inaugural
Super 12 Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
in 1996. It was first used at the
Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...
in 2003, and has been the staple for international and club competition since.


Other forms of rugby

Rugby sevens, while still under the
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
banner, does not use this system, and instead gives points for wins and draws. Sevens is a faster, more try-friendly game with a shorter time limit and a tendency to have runaway results. Sevens competitions are also usually one or two day affairs with an emphasis on the final bracket. All of this means there is little reason in using the bonus point system for the seven-a-side game.
Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
has tried out similar bonus point systems in some competitions, but most competitions only give points for wins and draws. However, from 2007 season through to 2014, the
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
and League 1 (the two levels below
Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
), primarily in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
but also featuring teams in France and Wales during this time frame, gave 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw, and 1 for a loss by 12 points or fewer (this amounts to two converted tries in rugby league, which gives four points for a try instead of the five points awarded in union). This changed in the 2015 season when the points system was brought into line with that of Super League, thereby standardising the system across Britain's three professional Rugby League divisions, abandoning the bonus points system.


Notes and references

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , date=28 August 2017 , first=Brett , last=McKay , title=What to expect from the NRC in 2017 , website=Australian Rugby , access-date=28 August 2017 , url=https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/08/28/00/31/what-to-expect-nrc-2017 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828032823/https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/08/28/00/31/what-to-expect-nrc-2017 , archive-date=28 August 2017 Bonus points