Springboks slip to sixth in Rankings

Editor

Wales and Tonga both climbed in the World Rugby Rankings on the back of their own on-field achievements.

Wales’ 27-13 victory over South Africa, their third win in this November series, sees them replace the Springboks in fifth place in the rankings, while Tonga are up to 14th, after winning away in Italy, and Switzerland jump up two places to 33rd after a comeback victory over Moldova.

It was only the third time that Wales had beaten South Africa and the victory was worth 0.78 of rating point, taking them on to 82.55 points – just over two behind fourth-placed Ireland. The loss means the Springboks equal their lowest ever position of sixth since the rankings began in October 2003.

Ireland boosted their tally by more than a point following their 27-24 win against Australia at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. They are now just over two points behind the Wallabies and have every chance of catching them, if they enjoy a successful Six Nations, before the Rugby World Cup 2019 pool draw takes place on May 10, 2017.

New Zealand and England, the top two sides in the rankings, were able to improve their points total as expected victories over France and Argentina came with no reward due to difference in rating points between the nations.

Stuart Hogg bagged a brace as seventh-ranked Scotland earned one-tenth of a rating point, which takes them on to 80.67 points – just over one behind South Africa, who are in danger of dropping out of the world’s top eight if the sides in and around them in the rankings have a good Six Nations campaign.

Levani Botia scored twice as Fiji beat Japan 38-25 to end their European tour with a win in the French town of Vannes, thus preventing the Asian champions taking 10th place from them in the rankings. Fiji now have a two-point buffer between themselves and the Brave Blossoms, after a 0.97 of a point gain, but are still more than three points adrift of Argentina, in ninth.

World Rankings
Previous position in brackets

1(1) New Zealand 94.78
2(2) England 89.84
3(3) Australia 86.97
4(4) Ireland 84.62
5(6) Wales 82.55
6(5) South Africa 81.79
7(7) Scotland 80.67
8(8) France 80.13
9(9) Argentina 79.91
10(10) Fiji 76.46
11(11) Japan 74.22
12(12) Georgia 74.14
13(13) Italy 72.47
14(15) Tonga 71.94
15(14) Samoa 71.25
16(16) Romania 69.36
17(17) USA 64.66
18(18) Canada 63.95
19(19) Russia 63.25
20(20) Namibia 62.78