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An interesting situation has come up ahead of this weekend’s World Cup Qualifier match between Canada and the USA in San Diego. With the first leg of the two-match series ending in a 28-all dead heat and the winner to be determined on aggregate, what happens if the two teams finish level on points once again? In the case of the Rugby World Cup, the next tie-breaker after points differential would be tries scored.
The Qualifying process, however, is different. Should the two teams be level at the end of extra time on Saturday the following will be used to determine a winner:
1) Extra-time – A five-minute interval will occur following full-time after which an extra-time of 10 minutes each way will be played. This is not sudden death, the two periods are to be played in their completion with another five-minute break to separate them. A coin toss determines who kicks off and the direction of play.
2) Sudden death extra-time – If there is still no winner determined, it’s another period of extra-time. This period will be sudden death and can proceed for up to 10 minutes. There will be no coin toss for this period. The team who kicked off in extra-time will kick off again.
3) Kicking competition – The traditional kicking competition with five players from each side taking a shot at the posts from the middle of the 22m line. If the teams are still even following the first five, the kicking continues with new players one-for-one until a winner is resolved. A coin toss is taken before the kicks to determine to wins the right to choose the kicking order.
