IT will come as no surprise to those who have followed Worcester Warriors along their long and winding road to the latter stages of the Championship play-offs that the final itself could end in typically convoluted and confusing fashion.

The much-maligned RFU competition has drawn criticism from all quarters for its overly-complicated format and the fact it seems heavily weighted against a team who won the regular league season by a massive 19 points. Despite their huge ‘winning’ margin, Warriors still had many and varied hoops to jump through before they could celebrate a return to the Premiership.

The group stages were negotiated with ease, the semi-final was a fraught affair but the Sixways side just prevailed and now they take a nine-point advantage into the second leg of the final following a 21-12 victory over Cornish Pirates in the first leg.

However, should Pirates overturn that deficit and the two sides finish level on aggregate at the end of the 160 minutes, Warriors’ hoped-for promotion back to the promised land could depend on the lottery of a goal-kicking contest.

If the two-legged match ends all-square, the two sides will play 10 minutes each way of extra-time.

If the scores are still tied, then the team that has scored the highest aggregate number of tries in both matches, including in extra-time, shall be deemed the winner.

However, if the teams are still locked together, then the winner will be determined by a place-kick competition.

Each team must nominate three players on the playing area at the final whistle of extra-time to take part.

Each will take two kicks in turn from six designated positions on the field and, if the teams are still level at the end of the six-kick competition, then a sudden death format will be adopted.

Should this ridiculous scenario unfold, it would no doubt be good for television viewing figures but could be a cruel way to punish the rightful winners of the division and sentence them to a financially-damaging second term outside of the top-flight of English rugby.