The final round of pool matches has pitted the teams currently in first and second place in all three pools against one another.
Reigning world champions England take on the USA with the teams having managed bonus point victories in their two pool matches to date. The Americans currently have the most number of points (10) in terms of the second -placed teams across the three pools.
The free-scoring New Zealand side takes on Canada, arguably the third best side in the tournament, but the Canadians needing to accumulate more match points from this fixture ( if they don’t beat the Kiwis) than both the USA and Ireland to progress.
The three pool winners and the best runner-up will make the semi-finals, while the remaining countries will face re-ranking playoff games that will determine whether they contest fifth-eighth or ninth-12th places. There will be two more matches for each country in the tournament after Thursday’s final pool fixtures.
The semi-finals and final will be played at Kingspan Stadium, as will Ireland’s subsequent playoff matches if they fail to make the semi-finals. The other matches will be played at Queen’s University, Belfast.
In terms of the best runner-up place if two or more teams are tied in terms of the total number of points from their pool matches then the following criteria will be applied in this order. The team which has the best difference between points scored for and points scored against in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked.
The team which has the best difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked. The team which has scored most points in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked. The team which has scored most tries in all its pool matches shall be the higher ranked. If none of the above produce a result, then it will be resolved with a toss of a coin.
Playoff dates
Tuesday, August 22nd: Semi-finals and playoffs, QUB and Kingspan stadium.
Sunday, August 26th: Finals and playoffs, QUB and Kingspan stadium.
