Sports Letters: Increase the penalty

Sir: I disagree with Mr N Sinclair (Sports Letters, 24 February), 'League has a point'.

Under the present rules, rugby union teams are deliberately going out of their way to give away penalties instead of tries, conceding three points instead of seven. Is that a fair exchange?

How the referee failed to award the French a penalty try in Cardiff when the Welsh pack deliberately collapsed the scrum twice on the line I don't know. All they received was a penalty kick, which was missed, depriving France of a certain seven points. Later in the game, with the French setting up a rolling maul, a Welsh player deliberately came back on the wrong side in order to concede the penalty; again it was missed.

Unless there is a bigger penalty, say four points for deliberate foul play, blatant offside, high tackle, stamping, etc., with the kick being taken directly in front of the posts (much like a penalty in football), teams will continue to give away penalty kicks where they may not be penalised at all.

Yours sincerely,

CHRISTOPHER MANN

Bristol

24 February