Varsity Cup’s Latest Law Innovation: Entertaining? Yes. Necessary? Maybe Not.

If there’s one competition in world rugby that has never been afraid to experiment, it’s the Varsity Cup. Over the years it has been a genuine testing ground for law variations, quicker play, and ideas that later filtered into the professional game. Some have worked. Others… not so much.

For 2026, the tournament has unveiled its boldest innovation yet: a new post-try scoring option that allows teams to either kick a standard two-point conversion or tap and chase an additional five points in a 120-second attacking window. Nail it, and you could walk away with 12 points from a single passage of play.

On paper, it sounds thrilling. In reality, it raises a few red flags.

The idea borrows heavily from the NFL’s one- or two-point conversion system, rewarding attacking ambition and decision-making under pressure. Score a try, and instead of calmly lining up the kick, captains will be asked whether they want to roll the dice. Tap from the 22, defence back 10 metres, no scrums, no lineouts, no drop goals, and two minutes to keep the ball alive and cross the line again.

It’s rugby as a power play. Tune in here as Ronnie & I discuss it on the pod.

There’s no doubt it will produce moments. Varsity Cup crowds love chaos, momentum swings and late drama, and this law almost guarantees all three. A team chasing the game can suddenly be right back in it. A dominant side can put matches to bed in brutal fashion. Coaches will have sleepless nights over when to tap and when to take the points.

But just because something is exciting doesn’t mean the game actually needs it.

Rugby already rewards attacking play handsomely. Tries are worth five points, conversions stretch defences wide, and bonus-point systems encourage teams to run rather than shut up shop. Adding a potential extra five points after a try risks inflating scores in a way that skews what rugby fundamentally is, a contest built on territory, pressure, and accumulation, not jackpot moments.

There’s also the danger of artificial momentum. A team that defends well for 15 phases, finally cracks, and then has to survive another two minutes with no stoppages, no scrums to reset, and no lineouts to slow things down? That starts to feel less like rugby and more like a skills challenge under fatigue.

Strategically, it may even narrow the game. If teams realise that repeated tap sequences are the most efficient way to score big, we could see less kicking for territory, fewer tactical battles, and more ball-in-hand rugby for the sake of chasing the “Tap Try”. Entertaining, yes, but potentially at the cost of balance.

It’s also worth remembering that Varsity Cup law trials don’t exist in a vacuum. Players, coaches and referees move into the professional system. When competitions begin to feel too different from the global game, the transition becomes harder, not easier. World Rugby already struggles with law complexity; adding more bespoke variations isn’t necessarily the solution.

That said, this is the Varsity Cup. Innovation is its identity, and not every experiment is meant to last forever. If there’s a place to test bold ideas, it’s here, in front of packed stands, student crowds, and a competition that thrives on theatre. No matter what the rules dish up, we know the crowds turn up to back their boytjies.

The key will be restraint. Trial it. Measure it. Be honest about whether it enhances rugby or merely amplifies spectacle. Not every exciting idea belongs in the long-term future of the game.

Because rugby doesn’t need to be reinvented every season , it just needs to be protected from becoming something it was never meant to be. In the last ten years or so there has been a major shift in the game and we risk alienating the traditionalists at the expense of chasing new fans.