In an effort to simplify scoring and speed up decisions on team advancement from pool play to the knockout rounds, we have simplified the tie-breaker system.
Per our existing competition format and rules, teams in a Division (e.g. High School Boys) are ranked based on the results of their matches in the Seeding Round (i.e. pool play). Typically, the top four teams advance to the Knockout Round (playoffs). In this format, it’s common for two or more teams to be tied for one of these top four seeds.
Since seeding affects the semi-final matchups, we will use the following simplified tie-break system:
- Most Games Won
- Head to head
- Points scored
- Points differential
- Coin Toss
This differs from past years in that the number of tries is no longer considered during tie-breaks. Since the number of tries is a very strong indicator of “Points Scored”, this change in tie-breaks will have little effect on seeding. Analysis of match results from past years strongly supports this notion: we were not able to find any examples in our past data where tries and points scored affected seeding differently.
