First used in the New Zealand domestic league in 1995, the bonus points system was adopted by the Rugby World Cup (in the group stages) in 2003, and by the Six Nations Championship in 2017.
Introduced as a way to incentivise teams to score more tries; and to encourage resilience and keep teams playing with maximal effort until the final whistle; the bonus point system has largely proved to be a success.
How the Bonus Point System Works
The bonus point system applies to the competition/league points that are awarded to teams at the end of a match. They influence a team’s position in a league table, or in the case of the Rugby World Cup, the position of a team at the pool stages.
If a team scores 4 or more tries in a match and win the match, they are awarded a bonus point – giving a total of 5 points.
If a team loses a match, but is within 7 or less points of the opposing team; then the losing team is awarded a bonus point – meaning they are awarded 1, rather than 0 points at the end of the game.

This means that the league or competition points that can be awarded at the end of a match are as follows:
- Win & score 4 or more tries – 5 points (includes 1 bonus point)
- Win & score less than 4 tries – 4 points
- Loss within 7 points & scoring 4 tries – 2 points (2 bonus points)
- Loss with 4 tries but not within 7 points of opposition’s final score – 1 point (bonus point)
- Loss within 7 points of oppositions score but fewer than 4 tries – 1 point (bonus point)
- Loss with scoring less than 4 tries, and the opposition outscoring you/the team by 8 or more points – 0 points
- Draw & score 4 or more tries – 3 points (includes 1 bonus point)
- Draw & score less than 4 tries – 2 points
The Six Nations has a unique rule that awards a Grand Slam winning team (a team that wins all 5 games), an additional 3 points. This ensures that they win the tournament, regardless of how many bonus points another team might score over the tournament.
Benefits of the Bonus Point System
As stated above, the bonus point system was introduced to encourage more attacking and open play, with a priority on scoring tries – rather than, for example – putting points on the board with penalty kicks.
This approach makes the sport more entertaining to watch, and more enjoyable to play, as the bonus point system is more likely to reward open, creative play with flair and risk-taking. This in turn is expected to increase the number of viewers and fans across the world; and therefore the potential advertising and sponsorship revenue that the sport can attract and generate.
The bonus point system has largely been a success. Since the system was introduced to the Six Nations in 2017, a statistical analysis shows that more tries have been scored on average per game. On average, post bonus point introduction, tournaments see an increase of 10-15% in the number tries scored.
A detailed analysis of a large number of international tournaments involving hundreds of games, demonstrated that compared to the old/standard point scoring system, bonus point systems encouraged both losing and winning teams to carry out more attacking plays, especially in the second half of the match.

Team Strategies & The Bonus Point System
The adoption of the bonus point system has had a notable affect on team strategies, with teams more likely to engage in attacking styles of play throughout the duration of a match.
For example, an analysis of the the introduction of the bonus point system into the pool/group stage of the Rugby World Cup, demonstrated that teams were more likely to adopt a much more aggressive, attacking style of play and teams that did so, scored more tries and were more likely to finish in a qualifying position at the end of the pool/group stages.
Other academic and scientific papers have concluded the same – that the introduction of a bonus point scoring system for a league or tournament results in a more attacking approach and strategy.

Conclusion: Game-Changer or Waste of Time?
Overall, it would appear that the introduction of the bonus point system has garnered the desired result; with tournaments that introduce the bonus point experiencing more attacking and open styles of play, a small but significant increase in the number of tries scored per match.
Whilst variations of the bonus point system seen in the Six Nations Championship have been adopted – for example, In the Super Rugby and the French Top 14 club tournaments, a bonus point is scored if a team wins and scores 3 more tries than the opposition – across the world, the bonus point system and variations of it, have generally proved a big success.
Whilst it remains difficult to identify a casual link between the bonus point system and TV viewership, there has also been a significant increase in viewers in regards to all major international rugby union tournaments, pre and post bonus point scoring. For example, the last Rugby World Cup saw a 20% increase in viewers compared to the previous tournament, with approximately 1.33 billion “viewing hours”.
With the increase in revenue the sport can potentially generate thanks to a greater global audience; the bonus point system appears to be a win-win, for everyone involved in the sport.
By: Andrew Griffiths