Latest World Rugby rankings: All Blacks edge closer to the Springboks as Wallabies pay for Sydney stinker
How the All Blacks' victory over the Wallabies impacted the World Rugby rankings.
The All Blacks have closed the gap on the Springboks at the summit of the World Rugby rankings.
New Zealand ran in seven tries to Australia’s three as Dave Rennie’s side posted their 13th straight win over the Wallabies with a comprehensive 43-21 victory in Sydney.
That came off the back of a similarly emphatic 50-19 win at Eden Park, which saw the All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup for the 24th consecutive year.
All Blacks close the gap on the Springboks
The All Blacks dominated the first half in Sydney, with Beauden Barrett scoring a brace while Josh Moorby, Peter Lakai, Rieko Ioane and Wallace Sititi also crossed the whitewash.
Jeremy Williams got one back for the Wallabies in the opening 40 minutes whilst Moorby completed his brace in the second half, which the Wallabies dominated. Tom Wright and Filipo Daugunu both grabbed tries in the second half, but those efforts weren’t enough as Australia fell to a 22-point defeat.
The All Blacks earned 0.46 rating points for the win over their Trans-Tasman rivals, which has seen them move to 92.27 – cutting the gap between them and South Africa to just 0.82 rating points.
Australia had the opportunity to move into fourth position with a win over New Zealand but the overwhelming defeat means that they have instead slipped a position, dropping to seventh.
Scotland are the beneficiaries as Gregor Townsend’s team move into sixth position ahead of the northern hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship.
The All Blacks will face Scotland, Wales and England, respectively in November while the Wallabies will tackle England, Scotland and Wales in that order.
World Rugby men’s rankings
(As of 17/10/2026)
1 South Africa 93.09
2 New Zealand 92.27 (+0.46)
3 Ireland 88.08
4 France 87.43
5 England 85.68
6 (↑1) Scotland 84.78
7 (↓1) Australia 84.43 (-0.46)
8 Argentina 82.24
9 Japan 77.28
10 Fiji 76.81
11 Wales 76.38
12 Italy 76.30
13 Georgia 73.94
14 Portugal 69.39
15 USA 67.58
16 Chile 66.94
17 Spain 66.83
18 Uruguay 65.75
19 Tonga 65.14
20 Samoa 64.73
