All Blacks have Springboks within their sights in World Rankings

Resounding back-to-back Bledisloe Cup wins have put the All Blacks within touching distance of the Springboks again at the top of the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.

The 50-19 and 43-21 victories in Auckland and Sydney have closed the gap between rugby’s so-called greatest rivals to just 0.82 points, with the Springboks sitting on 93.09 points to New Zealand’s 92.27.

Nearly four points separated the teams when the Springboks wrapped up a 3-1 series win over the All Blacks in Baltimore in mid-September, but their defeat to the Wallabies later in the month, and New Zealand’s dominant Bledisloe Cup campaign has changed the picture.

With the Springboks unable to improve their rankings score when the Nations Championship resumes on 7 November, due to the fact they are playing against an Italian team outside of the world’s top 10, New Zealand could make further inroads into the deficit if they beat their next opponents Scotland.

Scotland have never beaten the All Blacks but would have done so last November had it not been for a Damian McKenzie masterclass from the bench.

Gregor Townsend’s team have replaced Australia in sixth place in the rankings, as the loss of 0.46 points brought about by their most recent defeat to the All Blacks caused the Wallabies to slide down to seventh.

Current World Rugby Rankings

1. South Africa – 93.09
2. New Zealand – 92.27
3. Ireland – 88.08
4. France – 87.43
5. England – 85.68
6. Scotland – 84.78
7. Australia – 84.43
8. Argentina – 82.24
9. Japan – 77.28
10. Fiji – 76.81
11. Wales – 76.38
12. Italy – 76.30