For example, say we have a round robin of six seeded teams, played in order as given by the pool sheet. In the first game, team 1 does not show up on time and forfeits to team 5. The round goes as follows, with the winning team listed first:
| Game 1 | 5/1 (F) | 4/2 | 6/3 |
| Game 2 | 1/6 | 2/5 | 4/3 |
| Game 3 | 1/3 | 2/6 | 4/5 |
| Game 4 | 1/4 | 2/3 | 5/6 |
| Game 5 | 1/2 | 3/5 | 6/4 |
| Team | Record 1 | Stage 1 | Record 2 | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4-1 | 1 | --- | 1 |
| 2 | 3-2 | 3 | 3-1 | 3 |
| 3 | 1-4 | 6 | 1-3 | 5 |
| 4 | 3-2 | 2 | 3-1 | 2 |
| 5 | 2-3 | 4 | 1-3 | 6 |
| 6 | 2-3 | 5 | 2-2 | 4 |
The second ranking stage, which removes the disproportionate effect of forfeits, moves Team 5 down two slots from 4th to 6th. In the first stage, a forfeit moved them from one to two wins and put them in position to get ranked above Team 6 via a tiebreaking head-to-head win. With that win thrown out, they are tied in record with Team 3, who beat them.
The "death penalty" approach accomplishes the ordering of the non-forfeiting teams by a more drastic means: the forfeiting team loses all its games, finishing 6th, while each of the other teams moves up a slot.