It’s a case of winner-takes-all-all when Madagascar plays South Africa in the last match of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup competition on Sunday, May 12.

Or is it? What happens if there is a draw in the final match on Sunday?

There are exceptions, as explained below: And in the case of a draw, South Africa will still get the winner’s medal and, what’s more, a place in the 2025 Women’s World Cup in England.

And Madagascar will get an invitation to the WXV 3 tournament in Dubai later this year, from where there is a road, albeit an arduous one, to make it to the World Cup.

There will, be no extra time for a play-off.

The reason lies in the competition rules that apply to the ranking positions of all four teams because there is no final for the competition structure. And South Africa checks all the boxes, as can be seen from the log as it presently stands right now, should the match end in a draw.

Following the ranking below, a log right at the bottom will set out the placings of the sides as it stands before the final round.

The competition ranking rules –

• All the teams are ranked first on their cumulative match points (i.e. for win, draw, bonus points).
  • Where two (or more) teams are equal on bonus points at the end of the competition, the winner in the match(es) between the tied teams shall be higher ranked.
  • In the case of a draw, for example, the team with the best difference between points for and against in all matches will be the deciding factor.
  • After that it comes down to the difference between tries scored and conceded
  • The final two deciding factors, if none of the above apply, are that the team that scored the most points in the competition shall be higher ranked, followed by the most tries scored.
  • If it’s still a tie, a coin toss will be the determiner.

The log standings

Log as they stand after the first two rounds, where South Africa is better off than Madagascar in every aspect of the ranking rules as discussed above:

Logs (Played,  Won,  Lost, Draw, Tries for and against, Tries difference, Points for and against, Points difference, Matchpoints, Bonus points, Total points)
South Africa 2   2   0    0    20   1     19     118     5    113     8     2    10
Madagascar          2   2   0.   0     7     5       2       21     27     – 6     8    1      9
Kenya                        2   0   0    2     5   16   –11     27     84    – 57    0    2      2
Cameroon              2   0   0    2     1   11   –10       5      62    – 57    0    1      1

The final round of the 2024 Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, qualifier for the 2025 Women’s World Cup, will commence at 13:00 (East Africa Time) on Sunday, May 12, with Kenya playing against Cameroon. Followed by the deciding match between South Africa and Madagascar at 15:00 (East Africa Time).

Both matches will be available for broadcast and free live stream on the platforms below:

LIVE STREAM

RugbyPass TV: https://rugbypass.tv/live/266625

SuperSport: https://www.youtube.com/@supersport/streams

Rugby Africa YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RugbyAfrique

Rugby Africa Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RugbyAfrique/

LIVE BROADACAST

SuperSport Linear: Channel 244