The pace is relentless. They can taste the try-line. You can hear the urgency in the shrill voice of the scrum-half. The bruising sound of flesh and bone on flesh and bone and somebody beneath a ruck barking instructions is unnerving and reassuring in equal measure. As fans hold their breath in the stands, seemingly unstoppable forces heavily pant as they meet irresistible objects, untangling their limbs from others, hauling themselves off the ground to go again, and wait for a moment of either attrition or inspiration that will bring their team a precious five points.

There’s no getting round it, the most exciting thing in a rugby union match is a try. And yet, with goal-kicking becoming a well-mastered science, teams have long opted instead to kick for the posts when they are awarded a penalty, compromising with an easy three points instead of pressing for a decisive knockout blow, even when deep in the opposition’s 22. Taking a quick tap, scrum or kicking for the corner in order to score a try is often as brave or reckless.

How do we combat this? While reducing the value of penalties is an option, that would entail a host of problems, not least increased indiscipline on the field. Increasing the value of tries, or adding an option to do so, is a better answer.

Introducing a post-try play (let’s call it a PTP), akin to the two-point conversion system in American football, is a way of doing this. First introduced into the NFL in 1994, this new rule meant teams had the option of adding two points (rather than the one they would earn for a traditional 20-yard kick conversion) after they scored a touchdown by running a one-off play. Succeed and two points are added, fail and the team make do with the six points from the original touchdown.

The rule has been a resounding success, and earlier this year NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell even went so far to say he was considering a proposal to eradicate the kick conversion system entirely, with fans struggling to get excited about a simple 20-yard kick conversion that was missed just five times in 1,321 attempts last season. In NFL pre-season this year the league has experimented by moving the kick conversion back to the 33-yard line. Why? To increase the level of skill required, making the game more interesting.

Rugby union kick conversions need not be changed, but adding an option can add an extra element to the game. A PTP might be set up as follows: following the scoring of a try, teams have the option for either a traditional two-point kick conversion, or a three-point PTP that is started by a five-metre lineout or five-metre scrum, at the captain’s discretion. The attacking team would then have one minute to effectively score another try, which would not count against the normal match clock. This is designed to ensure players are not fatigued through countless phases of PTP play in a way that might then compromise the quality of the rest of the match, but also create a countdown situation in which the attacking team might have to go for broke, perhaps putting up a high ball or grubber kick to score the try as the time limit winds down.

Any foul by the attacking team would result in the PTP being voided and the normal game being resumed. Likewise if the defensive team legally turn the ball over and subsequently kill it (kick if out of touch, ground the ball in the try area). If the defensive team are penalised during the PTP, the attacking team are awarded the full three points.

One thing to play around with is the value of the PTP. At just one point more than a kick conversion, is that enough of an incentive for captains to regularly use it? Probably not. Would it be more effective if a kick conversion was one point rather than two? Maybe. In all likelihood, PTP’s would be used only at crucial points of the game.

One of the worst arguments against changing rules in sport is “that’s not the way we used to do it”. Rugby union is an evolving game and has a history of changing its laws – including increasing the value of a try from four points to five in 1992 – and the evolution of the quality of place-kicking has meant try-line action has declined. Pinching an idea from another oval ball game from across the pond will probably not go down with rugby’s traditionalists, but few can deny that the rule has revitalised an ageing conversion system in the NFL. Could the same not be applied to union?

Imagine if England had the option to use a PTP in the closing stages of their second Test defeat in New Zealand? It would have been utterly enthralling. But under the current law, England were only ever going to fall a point short and Chris Ashton’s try is simply a statistic.

The new rule is based around a simple motive: less kicking; more creative attacking set plays. More switches, dummies, miss-passes. More disciplined, heroic and last-ditch defending. Simply put, it is all the excitement that comes with trying to wrestle an egg-shaped ball over a white line. These are the principles, and the joys, on which the entire sport in built.