Wynne Gray: A crazy way to end it all

The only World Cup drop-kicks are the tournament officials who chose to approve and then keep quiet about their new tie-break formula.

A week ago after all the team managers had met, Rugby World Cup officials held a media conference in Sydney where they revealed all sorts of information.

There were crucial updates about whether Fiji would be allowed to bring in their ceremonial kava and New Zealand's request to use their own cook.

The RWC had decided not to award prizemoney, but it was going to pay out A$11 million ($12.3 million) among the 20 nations involved in the fifth global event.

There were revelations about stringent drug testing, with random sampling to be carried out before and during the Australian tournament.

Managers were briefed on the Sars health crisis and security arrangements.

Then we digressed to some of the tournament details such as the use of Super 12-style points in pool play, with sides getting four points for a win, two for a draw and none for a loss.

Bonus points would be awarded for sides scoring four or more tries in a match or for losing by seven or fewer points, in an attempt to encourage attacking play.

But nothing, not a dicky-bird, about the possibility of a drop-kick shootout to decide drawn games during the knockout stages of the event.

Why? Were they agitated about the new scheme or were they waiting to unveil it at some big, whizz-bang function in Sydney?

Apparently, all the competing nations approved the drop-kick concept, but it remained under wraps until a manager's manual fell into the hands of a dastardly Sydney newspaper.

Thank goodness it did. It gives everyone the chance to get used to the goofy concept, or even apply pressure to alter it.

Otherwise it might have been like the 1999 tournament when, just days before the start, referees were told to rule lineouts differently.

The crowd at a World Cup final or other knockout matches might like the idea of a drop-kick drama . . . but how embarrassing.

That sort of shootout might work in soccer, where the idea is for everyone to score goals, or even some fairground competition, but not the RWC, where the emphasis is on running, handling and scoring tries.

Drop-kicking is ultra-specialised and usually confined to one player in each team. Now, in the unlikely event of a stalemate after 30 minutes of extra time, five players from each side, still on the field at the end of extra-time, will be asked to take kicks from five different places beyond the 22-metre line.

Is this being driven by some broadcasters' special-effects department, was it the late IRB chairman Vernon Pugh's last wish . . . what is going on?

Tie-breaker methods are never satisfactory. But ideas such as the team scoring the most tries or just playing until a result is reached would be a heck of a lot better than watching a group of part-time kickers involved in something more appropriately seen on Top Town.

But if it is decreed that 30 minutes is the limit for extra time and by some remote chance this year's World Cup final is still deadlocked at that stage, I would rather the sides share the Webb Ellis Trophy than go through some pitiable circus routine to separate them.