Sporting Vernacular 12. TRY

WHEN LEEDS Rhinos' Leroy Rivett ran 90 metres at Wembley on Saturday to score the third of his record four tries in the Rugby League Challenge Cup final, it was curious to reflect that in rugby's early days, he would have got no points at all for his effort until it had been converted.

The word "try" originally meant to "sift" or "separate", from the Old French "trier", which led to the sense of a "test" and ultimately "attempt". The word came to be employed in rugby because originally touchdowns were awarded no points in themselves. The scoring side was allowed to "try" to convert the touchdown into points by kicking the ball over a crossbar. This was called a goal, and the word is still sometimes used in league and union to denote a converted try.