The Rugby World Cup could reach a breathtaking and original climax should Saturday’s final between Australia and England finish level after 80 minutes.
If the sides are level, then there will be two 10-minute periods of extra time.
If they are still level after that there will be a third extra-time period of a maximum of 10 minutes with the first team to get points on the board — be it a try, penalty-kick or drop — winning.
If that fails to separate them, it will come down to a drop-goal shoot-out.
Each team will select five kickers taken from the players still out on the field.
One by one they will attempt to drop a goal from set positions all within the 22m line.
These will be: in front of the posts, within 15m of the left touchline, within 15m of the right touchline, within 5m of the left touchline and finally within 5m of the right touchline.
If all that fails, they will kick again with a different group of players until one succeeds and one misses.
For the deciding drops each player will have a maximum of one minute to make his attempt from the moment he has the ball in hand.
If he goes past this time, the referee will rule it as a miss.
But if the tournament so far is anything to go by, no such drama will unfold. In the 46 games played not one has ended level after 80 minutes. — Sapa-AFP