Penalty shoot-out

I have to say, in common with a lot of the commentators and fans I didn't like the penalty shoot-out to end the Heineken Cup semi-final. The first few kickers, OK, they're all skilled, practised kickers - it's a fair challenge of a skill they're meant to be good at. Past that... Williams v Crane taking penalty shots? Farcical. It did produce a winner, but in such a fashion that even die-hard Leicester Tiger fans feel it wasn't really a fair way to decide the match, and it resting on the "failure" of one of the best players on the field for the previous 100 minutes (and in the world in his position) to execute a skill that is basically not required for him is cruel.

Apart from Jordan Crane, who is young and cocky and wasn't rubbing Williams' nose in to be fair, a lot of the Leicester players went to commiserate with Williams, kudos to them and the whole sport that this should be their first thought in the situation.

I hate people that criticise without suggesting an alternative, but this time I might just have to do that. I can think of several possible solutions and they all have swings and roundabouts.

I'd like to see a sudden-death extra time, but the pressure on the officials and on the fitness of the players would be immense. Similarly, reducing the players on the pitch to allow the game to reach a conclusion sounds exciting, but (say) 5 minutes of 7's after 100 minutes of 15-man rugby - the players today are fit, but that's insane levels of fitness required. And, of course, who knows how many cycles of extra time would be needed? You would run the players into the ground. It's in the spirit of rugby, but these days recovering for an important match the following weekend (Leicester are playing in the Premiership play-offs this Saturday after 100 minutes on Sunday, ouch my aching limbs just thinking of it!) has to be considered too.

Sudden-death overtime probably won't work then. So we're faced with some other contest. How about a different kicking contest? You can have whoever you like take the kicks - no rotating the kickers unless you want to. Start on the middle of the 22, then the 15m lines on the 22, then the 5m lines on the 22. Then, if necessary, repeat the distribution across the 10m line. Then the half-way line.

You aren't faced with Martyn Williams missing a kick he's got no business attempting at any other time - you are faced with trained, experienced goal-kickers doing their business. It continues until one makes a sufficiently serious set of mistakes to let the other side "win" the match. If they miss, it's still a big loss for the team, but teams and kickers are used to coping with that. It's not a "spirit of rugby" solution in the same way as playing some sevens would be, but it's far fairer than this foolish import for soccer - at least it's challenging a skill that those executing it have practised.