URC play-offs: What if it is a tie?

SPOTLIGHT: We break down what happens when knockout matches are drawn in the United Rugby Championship.

The United Rugby Championship has officially entered the business end of the competition, with the quarterfinal matchups all confirmed.

It could well happen that there is a draw during the knockout stages. If that happens you may want to know if there’s extra time and how things work.

In the event of games ending in a draw at the end of a knockout match, then extra time will be played, consisting of two periods, each of ten minutes plus any stoppage time in each period.

At the final whistle signalling the end of normal time in the match, there will be a five-minute break. Neither the teams nor the match officials may leave the Playing Enclosure during this break, save for exceptional reasons.

The coaching/management/medical staff of each team shall be permitted onto the Playing Area during this break to bring water, nourishment, and treatment to their players, but they must leave the Playing Area before the end of the break.

After the five-minute break, the teams will swap ends and the team that kicked off the first half of the match will kick off the first period of extra time.

After ten minutes the referee will stop the match and the teams will swap ends again while there is a break of one minute. Neither the teams nor the Match officials may leave the Playing Enclosure during this break, save for exceptional reasons.

The coaching/management/medical staff of each team shall be permitted onto the Playing Area during the break to bring water, nourishment, and treatment to their players, but they must leave the Playing Area before the end of the break.

After the one-minute break, the team that kicked off the second half of the Match will kick off the second period of extra time. After ten minutes the referee will stop the match. If at that point there is no winner of the Match according to the criteria set out in the Tournament Rules, then the referee will conduct a place-kick competition to determine the winner.

Place-kick competition

If at the end of a knockout match, after extra time has been played, the scores remain equal and the number of tries scored in the match (including extra time) is equal, then the referee will conduct a place-kick competition to determine the winner of the match.