Why a try is called a try

The Rugby World Cup 2011 is nearly coming to an end as the All Blacks prepare for the ultimate showdown against the unpredictable French. Of course we want the All Blacks to score lots of tries and waste those frogs but, if you're like me, you may ask yourself why a try is called a try when you've succeeded. Shouldn't they be called successes? Actually there's a good reason why they're called tries. When rugby was first invented in England in the 1800s what we call a try didn't actually give you any points. Back then, when you scored a try you just got the opportunity to "try" to kick a goal ie "convert the try" into points. Tries didn't give you any points until 1886 when you got 1 point for a try, 2 points for a conversion, 3 points for a penalty and 3 points from a drop goal. The value of a try increased to 2 points in 1891, 3 points in 1894, 4 points in 1971 then finally 5 points in 1992.