2021 Points Trial – Westreef Services Premier Club Competition:
The Buller Rugby Union have used the ‘game-on’ method in senior club rugby over the past two years.
https://www.nzrugby.co.nz/get-involved/participation-changes/game-on/

‘Game On’ allows teams who do not have a full team or front row players to still partake in a game, avoiding a default so players can still enjoy playing the game. The approach has become mandatory in New Zealand in some grades, but not the premier club competition.

Buller will continue to use ‘Game On’ in 2021 in our premier club competition. During the second round we are trialling a new points system, that if your team needs to adopt the game-on approach, the team is only able to collect ½ the competition points for that game.

Why?

• This is still our premier club competition, we ideally want our clubs playing 15 a side games with contestable scrums, lineouts.
• We would like our aspiring representative players to be simulating game-like experiences. For example, front rowers having contestable scrums and not playing out of position.
• We need to encourage tight 5 players. Club survey results indicate that the game-on approach is not overly motivating for our tight 5 players who can often be replaced due to their skill-set not being required.

The point system is adopted to encourage clubs to use all resources to meet the game requirements of a contestable game of premier rugby. It is important to note that if this is not possible, the game can still proceed under ‘game-on’.