Four teams vying for the top spot in World Rugby Men’s Rankings
Four teams vying for the top spot in World Rugby Men’s Rankings. Four Test teams are vying for the World Rugby No.1 position in a once-in-a-decade opportunity.
South Africa, New Zealand, France, and Ireland may all finish the weekend as the world’s top-ranked team.
A win for the Springboks versus Wales will not increase their ranking because of the 11.33 rating points difference before home weighting is taken into consideration.
If the South Africans tie with Wales, the All Blacks or Ireland must win by more than 15 points to take the top spot. Jacques Nienaber’s team’s failure means that New Zealand or Ireland can win with a lower margin of victory. If they win in New Zealand, the men in green will be the better team.
As of October 2003, Ireland has held the number one slot for only two weeks — in September 2019.
Possibilities
A win for either New Zealand or Ireland, along with a France victory in Japan, would see South Africa fall to third. If they lose by a score of more than 15 points and New Zealand and Ireland both draw, they might theoretically fall to fourth place.
It is possible for the All Blacks to take a fall. If Foster’s team loses and France wins, they will fall to their lowest ever ranking of fourth.
Even if France loses in Japan, New Zealand will still move up a spot if South Africa wins. First time France has been at the top of the rankings if they win, South Africa loses and Eden Park ends up in a draw.
With a win in Perth, Australia will rise above England in the rankings. By winning by more than 15 points and France losing to Japan by the same margin, Eddie Jones’ men can only rise beyond fifth place.
In the event of a win over France, Japan will leapfrog Wales and into ninth place. If the Brave Blossoms win by more than 15 points, Wales loses, and Scotland loses by the same score in Argentina, they could move up to eighth place.
If Les Bleus lost to Jamie Joseph’s team, they will drop two spots to fourth. If they and Australia lose to England by more than 15 points, they might fall another spot.
As long as Wales beat South Africa in Pretoria, they’ll leapfrog an out-of-sorts Scotland. On the basis of their loss margin and the outcomes in South Africa and Japan, Gregor Townsend’s team might drop as low as 10th place.
Fiji can’t enhance their rating in the Pacific Nations Cup by beating Tonga because of the 8.9 rating points difference before home weighting is taken into account. Four of Vern Cotter’s nine Fijian Drua players are making their first appearances in the starting line-up, including flanker Rusiate Nasova, winger Vinaya Habosi and center Kalaveti Ravouvou, and winger Jiuta Wainiqolo of Fiji’s national team.
With Manu Samoa’s World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup match against Australia A not counting towards the standings, Italy will rise above Samoa if they defeat Romania. Florin Vlaicu, Romania’s 128-game veteran, returns to the team after his last appearance for the Oaks was in March 2021. Victor Leon makes his debut for Romania, having previously played seven Moldovan tests.
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