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Rugby conversions: a 3-dimensional model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Tony Crilly  and
Alan Pryor
Tony Crilly
Affiliation:
Middlesex Business School, Economics and Statistics, The Burroughs, Hendon, London NW4 4BT
Alan Pryor
Affiliation:
The London School of Economics and Political Science, Operational Research Group, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE
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Extract

From which position on a rugby pitch should a player choose to kick in order to convert a try? The problem is to find the optimal distance from the try-line conforming to a geometrical constraint: Law 13 of the Rugby Union code stipulates, ‘after a try has been scored, the scoring team has the right to take a place kick or drop kick at goal, on a line through the place where the try was scored’.

The mathematical problem is not new and has been treated in the Gazette on several occasions [1, 2, 3], and in each case the modelling has been in two dimensions, taking a planar view of the pitch. Figure 1 represents this ‘planar model’.

Type
Articles
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 94 , Issue 530 , July 2010 , pp. 233 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2010

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References

1. Hughes, Anthony, Conversion attempts in rugby football, Math. Gaz., 62 (December 1978), pp. 292–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Avery, Peter, Mathematics in sport, Math. Gaz., 73 (March 1989), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar
3. Worsnup, G., An aid to conversions in rugby, Math. Gaz., 73 (October 1989), pp. 225–226.Google Scholar