Justin Marshall: Time to change drop goal attitude

Argentina first five Nicolas Sanchez, harried by All Blacks defence, shows how tricky it is to kick a drop goal under pressure. Photo / APN

It takes a lot of good rugby to strike a drop goal but scrum penalties due for a change.

There's always been a lot of debate about the merits and points value of drop goals in rugby and last weekend's successful shot from Springbok first-five Handre Pollard elicited another predictable chorus of boos.

For me, the answer is pretty simple: keep the drop goals at three points but reduce the sanction for scrum penalties to two.

I'm a strong advocate for drop goals remaining at three because for the most part, it takes a lot of good rugby to get in position to strike one. There are the odd speculative or long-range shots when nothing else is working, but generally speaking, it takes a good team effort and some fine individual skills before a drop goal is scored.

That is no longer the case for scrum penalties. Every now and then you get an example where a team who are struggling at the set-piece give away an obvious penalty, but the laws are so cloudy and shrouded in technical-speak that there is a real case for dropping the value of straight-arm scrum penalties to two points. Short-arm free kicks are of no merit because you get endless resets, and three points is too high a price to pay for what is usually a subjective technical error.

A prop momentarily slipping his bind in a scrum in front of the posts should not be a three-point mistake. Hopefully with a points reduction, captains might be encouraged to try for five-pointers and shift some of the emphasis away from that set-piece.

On the other hand, anybody who thinks it is easy to engineer a drop goal should get out there and try it.

A lot of things have to go right for a successful shot. You need to be on the front foot (and have the defence on the back foot), so you have time to get a shot off before the charge down; you have to be in the right position on the field; the halfback needs to get a good pass away; and the kicker needs to get his mechanics right and hit it straight and sweetly.

Penalty kickers have a minute to run through all their idiosyncrasies before striking for goal, drop kicks you get a second or two.

I look back to Pollard's drop goal in Wellington and see it as a pivotal moment in the match that the Springboks failed to capitalise upon. When they had the chance for a penalty late in the match that would have brought them within one, they should have taken the points, knowing they had somebody in their team who could have won the game for them if they got field position.

Instead, they opted to go for the try and that seemed to galvanise the All Blacks. In many ways it is easier to defend your line than it is a well-conceived drop goal.

I know from my playing days that it was a good feeling when you flicked the ball back to someone like an Andrew Mehrtens and he dropped a goal. You knew you had gone through a good process to earn those three points.

I acknowledge that many New Zealanders think it runs counter to the spirit of the game, but I don't buy that for a second. Some of the greatest, most dramatic games of rugby have been determined by a drop goal.

You only need to look at two World Cup finals - Joel Stransky in 1995 and Jonny Wilkinson eight years later - for evidence of that.

Dan Carter, in 2012, preserved New Zealand's 100 per cent home winning record against Ireland with a similar intervention.

Don't mess with the drop goal, it's a valued part of the rugby landscape.

As for scrum penalties, that's ripe for changing.

Five matches where dropped goals helped or hindered the All Blacks

1 Aaron Cruden's only international drop goal. The Manawatu first-five scored only three points in the All Blacks' 20-6 semifinal win over Australia in the 2011 World Cup and they came via a drop goal. There were no jeers from the crowd when this went through.

2 The All Blacks' 2007 World Cup quarter-final loss to France. As NZ crashed out of the tournament with a 20-18 loss to the French many wondered if a drive for a drop goal could have saved New Zealand's blushes. It never came.

3 Dan Carter's first test drop goal. NZ edged Australia 13-9 in Brisbane in 2006 and this game included Carter's maiden international drop goal in his 28th test. He has kicked six in his 100 tests.

4 Carter can't kick them all. In 2008, with the All Blacks down 30-28 against South Africa in Dunedin, Carter attempted a late drop goal that could have won New Zealand the game but the first-five's attempt went wide and the Springboks held on.

5 The 1995 World Cup final. South Africa won this nail-biter 15-12 with Springboks pivot Joel Stransky kicking the winning drop goal in extra-time. All Blacks first-five Andrew Mehrtens kicked one drop goal in the contest but also missed an attempt late in regulation time that could have stolen the game for New Zealand.