-
February’s Six Nations will see the introduction of the system on a trial basis
-
Andy Farrell thinks the Lions’ hopes of winning in New Zealand have been boosted by their introduction
-
A similar system has been in place in the southern hemisphere’s international competitions since 1996
The British and Irish Lions’ hopes of winning in New Zealand have been boosted by the introduction of bonus points to the Six Nations, defence coach Andy Farrell says.
The Six Nations confirmed last month that a new scoring system would be trialled for the next three years.
Farrell, who will form part of Warren Gatland’s coaching staff for the Lions tour as defence coach, said bonus points will encourage teams to be more attacking and score more tries.
“We have been in front against them [New Zealand] with teams I have been involved with and they are masters at the comeback, staying calm and being clinical,” Farrell said.
“The way to score that bonus-point try is exactly like that – staying calm, being clinical, not being frantic, and going about your job as you should do rather than being too emotional.
“It will create excitement as it goes, you’ll know what you need to do along the way, but you still won’t get away from the fact that you need to win.
“It is good for us because we want to play a good attacking style of rugby in Ireland, we have shown that with the tries we have scored of late,” added Farrell.
“I believe it is going to be good for us, but everyone knows that you have to score points against New Zealand.”
The last two occasions a northern hemisphere team beat New Zealand, Farrell ran the defence – England 38 New Zealand 21, Twickenham, December 2012 and Ireland 40 New Zealand 29, Chicago, November 2016.