The chief executive of the Six Nations has admitted that the controversial decision to award bonus points may be abandoned after just one year if it proves to be unsuccessful.
It was announced in December that a new system of scoring would be implemented to encourage more attacking play during the six-week competition, which was met by a mixed response from those in the game.
Teams that cross over the whitewash four times or more will be rewarded with an additional point, while teams on the end of a defeat will earn a point should they lose a match by seven points or fewer.
Tournament chief John Feehan is against the implementation of the system and claims that it may well be ditched should 2017's trial run fail to work in the way it is intended.
"I haven't changed my view - It is inherently unfair," he is quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "What we did was look at the balance. Is it more important to given an encouragement to teams to try and run the ball or is it more important that we attribute more importance to the level of unfairness. We are not saying we are right in introducing bonus points.
"It remains to be seen. It could go the wrong way too. It could be that home teams start to win repeatedly. What you are looking for is a level of uncertainty. It will be reviewed every year. If we get a significantly bad result out of it this year it will be changed next year but I can't see that happening. We are not stupid.
"Even if we got a marginal wrong result this year you would have to give it time, perhaps a couple of seasons, to see if it changes people's approach to the game. Frankly I don't think it will make a huge difference. It might think that in the last 10 or 15 minutes of a game teams might go for a try instead of kicking for a goal. You would like to think they would set themselves up to attack a little bit more now than they might have in the past."
The 2017 Six Nations gets underway on Saturday when Scotland play host to Ireland at Murrayfield Stadium.
Daniel Lewis
