Latest World Rugby rankings: Springboks open up a significant lead over the All Blacks after Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series success
Latest World Rugby Rankings and an image of Springboks captain Siya Kolisi.
Following this weekend’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series finale and the semi-finals of the Pacific Nations Cup, here are the latest World Rugby rankings.
South Africa cement top spot
The Springboks surged to an emphatic 43-28 victory in Baltimore to seal a 3-1 series triumph in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry and remain the number one ranked team in the men’s World Rugby rankings.
The 15-point winning margin means that South Africa now have a 3.94-rating-point buffer over the All Blacks who remain in second position. Ahead of the series, the Springboks had just a 1.68-point cushion over New Zealand.
For the first time in the RGR series, the Springboks scored more tries than the All Blacks with Rassie Erasmus’ men crossing six times compared to Dave Rennie’s side’s four.
Damian de Allende and Morne van den Berg grabbed the tries in the first half with Codie Taylor and Will Jordan responding for the All Blacks, who trailed 17-14 at the break – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s penalty in the third minute was the only thing splitting the two sides at half time.
Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cameron Hanekom added further tries for the men in Green and Gold in the second half, with Ethan Blackadder and Beauden Barrett crossing for the Kiwis.
Pacific Nations Cup action
Over in World Rugby’s Pacific Nations Cup, Eddie Jones’ Japan crushed the United States of America 63-14 at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka.
The result books them a place in the final where they will face defending champions Fiji, who beat Canada 45-29 at the same venue.
Fiji were unable to improve their rating despite the 16-point margin of victory due to the 17.63-point differential between the two teams before kick-off.
Japan did increase their rating by the maximum 0.73 thanks to their victory over the Eagles. They now have a 2.15-rating-point buffer over the 13th-ranked Georgia and have closed the gap on 11th-ranked Italy to just 0.21.
Fiji and Japan will meet in the final of the Pacific Nations Cup 2026 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo next weekend, while Canada and the USA square off in the third-fourth place play-off.
The Brave Blossoms could move as high as ninth if they manage to dethrone the Fijians in the final.
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Latest World Rugby rankings
1 South Africa 95.09 (+0.76)
2 New Zealand 91.15 (-0.76)
3 Ireland 88.08
4 France 87.43
5 England 85.68
6 Scotland 84.78
7 Australia 83.55
8 Argentina 82.24
9 Fiji 78.00
10 Wales 76.38
11 Italy 76.30
12 Japan 76.09 (+0.73)
13 Georgia 73.94
14 USA 69.49 (-0.73)
15 Portugal 69.39
16 Chile 66.94
17 Spain 66.83
18 Uruguay 65.75
19 Tonga 65.14
20 Samoa 64.73
READ MORE: Springboks v All Blacks: Huge payday awaits SA Rugby and NZ Rugby for taking RGR Test to Baltimore
