The most recent spherical of World Rugby rankings have been launched, with South Africa’s historic win over New Zealand altering issues up on the high

South Africa’s Damian Willemse celebrates after scoring a attempt towards New Zealand (Picture: Getty Photographs)
The most recent spherical of Rugby Championship matches has shaken up the World Rugby rankings as soon as once more.
New Zealand, who had snatched the highest spot from South Africa simply 4 weeks prior, went into their match towards the Springboks in Wellington on Saturday because the world’s primary group. Nevertheless, they had been handed a crushing 43-10 defeat by Rassie Erasmus’ facet, marking their heaviest loss ever.
The All Blacks crumbled within the second half, permitting South Africa to attain 36 unanswered factors and rebound impressively from their loss to Scott Robertson’s group the earlier week. This record-breaking victory has propelled the Boks again to the highest of the worldwide standings, pushing New Zealand down to 3rd place, with Eire holding regular in second.
New Zealand’s stint on the high of world rugby was the shortest since France’s single-week reign as world quantity ones in July 2022. Their loss to the Springboks has confirmed expensive, leaving them nearer to fifth-placed England than to reclaiming the highest spot.
Elsewhere, Argentina celebrated a 28-26 victory over Australia, which has propelled them previous the Wallabies into sixth place and secured their spot within the first band of seeds for December’s 2027 Rugby World Cup draw.
Nevertheless, the 4 Rugby Championship groups aren’t the one ones experiencing shifts within the rankings. Outcomes from the Pacific Nations Cup have additionally made a big impression.
Most notably, america have risen three locations, hovering from nineteenth to sixteenth following their World Cup qualification.
The Eagles secured their ticket to Australia for the 2027 match by defeating Samoa 29-13 within the PNC’s fifth-place play-off on Sunday. This marks their return to rugby’s grandest stage after lacking out on the 2023 match.
An American victory was considerably sudden, given their five-match shedding streak within the competitors and Samoa’s rating 5 locations above them previous to the match.
Now, nevertheless, america sit only one place behind Samoa, who’ve additionally been surpassed by Spain resulting from their play-off defeat. This can be a file excessive for the Spaniards, who’ve steadily climbed the worldwide rankings through the present World Cup cycle.

Siya Kolisi of South Africa celebrates with the Freedom Cup after profitable The Rugby Championship match over New Zealand (Picture: Getty Photographs)
Japan, sitting simply above in thirteenth place, have narrowed the hole on Wales to a mere 0.13 rating factors after their spectacular 62-24 victory over Tonga. The Pacific Islanders have slipped to nineteenth following the defeat, and additional losses might see them equalling their lowest-ever world rating of twentieth.
Following their loss to america, Samoa now face Chile in a two-legged play-off for automated qualification to the 2027 match. Failure to win will imply they need to navigate the Remaining Qualification Event (FQT) route.
This four-team round-robin competitors, scheduled for November, will see Belgium and Namibia tackle both Brazil or Paraguay and both Samoa or Chile for the ultimate World Cup qualification spot.
After securing their spot on the 2027 match, United States head coach Scott Lawrence mentioned: “This has been three years coming, and it feels good. We have been constructing this group, they’re younger in caps, however they went on the market and carried out immediately.”
He added: “I believe we begin wanting on the 2027 squad going into the November take a look at collection. We have a U20s World Championship subsequent yr with a brand new crop of gamers coming by means of, so we’re able to spend money on them and spend time with that enjoying group.
“In any other case we simply begin planning. It was a three-year plan to get right here, so will probably be one other two-year plan into the Rugby World Cup. I am going to take 24 hours off, however we’ll be again to work on Tuesday.”
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A complete of twenty-two groups have now secured their spots for the expanded match in two years’ time, with simply two locations remaining. Hong Kong has made historical past by qualifying for the primary time ever, whereas Zimbabwe is ready to return to the game’s grandest stage after a 36-year hiatus, having final appeared on the 1991 match.
The latest World Rugby rankings (September 15).
| # | Crew | Factors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (↑2) | South Africa | 91.62 | (+2.25) |
| 2 | Eire | 89.83 | ||
| 3 | (↓2) | New Zealand | 89.10 | (-2.25) |
| 4 | France | 87.82 | ||
| 5 | England | 87.64 | ||
| 6 | (↑1) | Argentina | 84.40 | (+1.56) |
| 7 | (↓1) | Australia | 83.85 | (-1.56) |
| 8 | Scotland | 81.57 | ||
| 9 | Fiji | 80.86 | ||
| 10 | Italy | 77.77 | ||
| 11 | Georgia | 74.69 | ||
| 12 | Wales | 74.05 | ||
| 13 | Japan | 73.92 | (+0.52) | |
| 14 | (↑1) | Spain | 69.12 | |
| 15 | (↓1) | Samoa | 68.90 | (-1.82) |
| 16 | (↑3) | USA | 67.40 | (+1.82) |


















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