KEY POINTS:
While the All Blacks would still be at the World Cup if they had succeeded with a dropped goal, that scoring method has been a blight on the latter stages of the tournament.
It became an all-too-repetitive points solution for sides in the final four, especially England and France, who had seven attempts during their semifinal, against three efforts in South Africa's playoff with Argentina.
Dropping goals remains a special art, with teams needing to manoeuvre themselves into position to get proper possession for their kicker to outwit the charging defence.
With three points still on offer for a dropped goal, sides have gone to that approach almost as a first recourse to win knockout tests. That dependence damaged the twin semifinal action at Stade de France in Paris..
There have been many examples of dropped goal magic in previous World Cups from Joel Stransky, Stephen Larkham, Jannie de Beer and Jonny Wilkinson. But its excessive semifinal use was painful.
Administrators should consider whether the value of the dropped goal needs to be reduced to two, or perhaps even a solitary point, as a way of persuading sides to use the ball more to discover the tryline.
Leave the dropped goal in the game but limit its use and importance by reducing its worth. There has been far too much kicking at this tournament as sides have played percentage rugby and the dropped goal has added to that monotony.
Official statistics show Argentina were most seduced by the dropped goal tactic; they had 15 attempts during the tournament, and Juan Martin Hernandez was successful with four. England have had a dozen attempts, with Jonny Wilkinson knocking over five of his nine shots.
Meanwhile, the Springboks have yet to succeed. Percy Montgomery, Butch James and Francois Steyn have all missed two attempts each.
France had five shots during the tournament and missed the lot, the All Blacks had one attempt each from Daniel Carter and Luke McAlister, with both going wide.
As the final hoves into view on Sunday, the kicking merits of Montgomery and Wilkinson have been widely dissected. Montgomery has yet to miss a kick at the Stade de France venue for the final, while Wilkinson has been unsettled several times by the pressure in the tournament balls and changed one before one semifinal penalty.
"It didn't have a number on it, so it wasn't one of the match-balls and I wanted to kick a match-ball," he said.
"I hope not to have to talk about the ball this week but, if I have been practising with the match-balls and I am kicking a penalty in a World Cup semifinal, it seems sensible a match-ball is the one that I kick."
Wilkinson admitted in his newspaper column that he slept for only an hour after the semifinal victory, his mind was racing too much, and he felt like he had a hangover when waking.
"Maybe it is the kicking that contributes," he said. "Standing over that penalty with five minutes to go: that was nerve-racking. You can feel and see your shirt moving with your heartbeat. As much as people might think that that's your job and you don't look nervous, I tell you: it isn't like that.
"Yes, of course you are thinking: this could put us in the lead. Or: if I miss this, I've stuffed up big-style. The suggestion that you might not think that is a joke. And you are hearing all the noise, at every stage, setting the ball, going to the end of your run-up, finding your line, still you hear the noise.
"It was brilliant to put us farther ahead with the dropped goal, but that's different: you are on the move so there's less time for nerves and, believe me, that is a blessing."
Wilkinson has a 63 per cent success rate with penalty goals at this World Cup and 56 per cent strikes with his conversions and dropped goals compared with Montgomery's 93 per cent for penalties, 73 per cent for conversions and no dropped goals.
