This time of year, the last week of a championship season realy messes with your mind. You have several tabs up on your browser, each on a different page of standings. You click refresh every ten seconds. You try to run through every potential scenario in your head. Your team has to win. The rival … Read more

It all looks like chaos when you get into the final day of a group stage tournament. But there’s arithmetic involved in how it pans out. It is emotional for fans and commentators. But it often comes down to a small difference in goals scored, or a single point that separates advancing from being eliminated. … Read more

When you are on the wrong side of the result with a few minutes left of a rugby game and there’s a chance to grab a bonus point, it makes for a tense last few minutes. There’s a small part of you that hopes they won’t run up too many points. It is not out … Read more

When rugby teams has lost a close game (by four points), they tend to be left feeling deflated. They went out there, worked hard, made their game plan happen and had the ball longer than there opponents. But the scoreboard didn’t show that dominance, and it wasn’t shown in the standings. That’s where the try … Read more

There’s a unique sort of nervousness that occurs during last weeks of a sporting year. It isn’t simply about winning or losing your next match; its about how many points you can gain from the win. In days past, it was easy: win, you get points. Lose, no you don’t. These days, leagues is complex … Read more

In the final match of any tournament’s pool stage, it has all the feel of that last-minute high-stakes maths test in school. You’ve won the game; but there’s no exhale as your net run rate teeter on the brink of elimination. This metric drives fans and commentators crazy. It’s not just about runs scored. How … Read more

The issue arises when you attempt to rank things in a table. Twenty games played and two team are tied on points. The spreadsheet isn’t just counting wins and losses anymore, it’s a philosophical argument. Should the one with the most goals go top? Or perhaps it is the one with the best defence. That’s … Read more