World Rugby rankings: How the Rugby Championship impacted the standings as Springboks not rewarded for Argentina thrashing
World Rugby rankings following the Rugby Championship fifth round action.
The Springboks may have racked up a remarkable 37-point victory over an excellent Argentina side, but it did not see them increase their lead in the World Rugby rankings.
While Los Pumas are an impressive side that have enjoyed some superb victories recently, including beating the All Blacks and Wallabies, they did not have enough ranking points to help South Africa at the summit.
Irrespective of the margin of the victory, the Boks would have stayed on 91.62, which means their 67-30 triumph means little in terms of the rankings.
The visitors actually led 23-18 at one stage following Santiago Chocobares’ effort and a penalty try, allied by the accurate kicking of Santiago Carreras, but the hosts were incredible after the break.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who was utterly spellbinding, almost single-handedly kept them in the contest and then went over with the clock in the red to take Rassie Erasmus’ men ahead at the interval.
Springboks’ superb second half
They duly took that momentum into the second period and ripped their opponents apart with Cheslin Kolbe scoring and Feinberg-Mngomezulu sealing his hat-trick before Morne van den Berg, Pieter-Steph du Toit (twice) and Manie Libbok completed the rout.
It was not enough to gain any World Rugby ranking points, however, while it also does not impact Los Pumas, who still find themselves in sixth and the top-seeded bracket ahead the Rugby World Cup draw later this year, but this will no doubt dent confidence.
They will look to hit back next weekend, where they will hope to keep Australia at bay in the standings – a team just behind them in seventh.
Felipe Contepomi’s men actually increased their buffer slightly on the Wallabies after Joe Schmidt’s outfit succumbed 33-24 to the All Blacks in a thriller.
The Wallabies lost 0.18 points as a result of the reversal while New Zealand increased their rating by the same amount to move slightly closer to second placed Ireland.
At one stage, Scott Robertson’s side were in danger of slipping down to fifth when the visitors came from 20-3 down to reduce the arrears to 20-17 at half-time.
Even going into the final 10 minutes, it was finely poised at 26-24 in the hosts’ favour, but Cam Roigard’s second try, which followed further efforts from Caleb Clarke and Leroy Carter, sealed the win and third spot in the rankings.
In terms of the Rugby Championship, it sets up a thrilling finale with the Springboks first on 15 points and New Zealand just behind them with 14.
Argentina are now out of the title equation, but the Wallabies could still snatch it if results go their way next weekend.
World Rugby rankings
1 South Africa 91.62
2 Ireland 89.83
3 New Zealand 89.28
4 France 87.82
5 England 87.64
6 Argentina 84.40
7 Australia 83.67
8 Scotland 81.57
9 Fiji 81.16
10 Italy 77.77