New Zealand vs South Africa: What happens if Rugby World Cup final ends in a draw?

There could be as many as three stages to decide a match if the scores are level at full time

The 2003 Rugby World Cup final was decided in extra time (Getty Images)

The Rugby World Cup final has arrived as New Zealand and South Africa battle for a record-setting fourth crown.

Extra time is a possibility if the scores are level after 80 minutes.

Extra time has been used before at the World Cup, most notably in the final in 2003.

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Then, hosts Australia and England were locked together with 14 points each after a late penalty from Elton Flatley, neccessitating additional action.

The encounter progressed to a period of extra time, with Jonny Wilkinson knocking over a last minute victory to secure England’s first, and only, men’s World Cup crown.

At this tournament, if the teams are tied after 80 minutes, they will first play a 20-minute period of normal extra time.

This will be split into two halves of 10 minutes.

If the teams can still not be separated, an additional period of sudden death, golden score extra time will be played.

If that period passes without a point, the two teams will then engage in a kicking contest, with a coin toss determing who strikes first.

Five players from each side will take part, kicking from three different positions on the 22-metre line. If both teams convert the same number of kicks, there will be a sudden death shootout until the two sides are separated.

The World Cup is yet to have a kicking contest, though it has been sighted in club rugby as recently as last year.

Toulouse and Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final in Dublin in May 2022 was settled in a shootout with a slightly different format to the World Cup regulations.

A decisive kick-off also took place after the semi-final between Cardiff Blues and Leicester Tigers in 2009.