World rankings: Springboks cement top spot for 2024 but Ireland, England and Scotland could still tumble
The latest World Rugby Rankings and an image of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.
South Africa have cemented their place on the top of the World Rugby rankings for 2024 after their victory over Wales in the Autumn Nations Series.
The Springboks closed out their international season with a comprehensive 45-12 victory over Warren Gatland’s men – a result that did not earn South Africa any rating points but does mean that they cannot be caught by Ireland, who play their final match of the year against Australia on Saturday.
There was no movement in the top 10 of the World Rugby rankings from the final full weekend of the Autumn Nations Series as Ireland remained in second place, New Zealand third, France fourth and Argentina in fifth.
Ireland, England and Scotland can still fall
Scotland, England, Australia, Fiji and Italy rounded out the top 10 respectively with Wales remaining in 11th place followed by Georgia, Japan, Samoa and the USA.
While there was no movement, teams did improve their ratings with New Zealand closing the gap on Ireland, earning 0.27 rating points for their victory over Italy while France earned 0.43 for defeating Argentina – the losing sides all dropping the same amount of rating points.
Scotland gained 0.65 rating points after defeating Australia while the USA cemented their 15th place, gaining 1.12 points for beating Spain.
Uruguay were the only team in the top 20 to move up a position with their win over Romania seeing them swap places with Spain and move into 17th.
While the Springboks have sealed top spot before Test rugby resumes next year, Ireland could fall down the rankings if they lose to the Wallabies this weekend. If Joe Schmidt’s charges end their year with a narrow victory over Ireland, they will move ahead of Scotland and England into sixth place on the rankings with the hosts dropping from second to third.
This would see New Zealand end 2024 in second place on the rankings while Scotland and England drop to seventh and eighth respectively.
However, a victory over more than 15 points for Australia would see Ireland drop to fourth in the rankings with New Zealand and France both moving ahead of them. A win by that margin would still see the Wallabies move into sixth place but not any higher as Argentina will finish the year in fifth position.
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Current World Rugby rankings (As of 25/11/2024)
1 South Africa 92.78
2 Ireland 90.78
3 New Zealand 90.36
4 France 88.51
5 Argentina 84.97
6 Scotland 83.34
7 England 82.31
8 Australia 81.52
9 Fiji 80.07
10 Italy 78.64
11 Wales 74.01
12 Georgia 73.85
13 Japan 72.95
14 Samoa 72.68
15 USA 70.02
16 Portugal 68.82
17 Uruguay 67.06
18 Spain 65.98
19 Tonga 65.46
20 Romania 63.01
