Rare world rankings opportunity opens up for Springboks

Springbok supporters aghast to find out that their 45-21 destruction of England in the opening round of the Nations Championship wasn’t rewarded in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings, will be pleased to know that some form of gain, albeit minimal, is possible if they beat Scotland at Loftus Versveld this Saturday.

Scotland have been to South Africa seven times and have been defeated on every trip, and there is little to suggest that the formbook will be ripped up at the Springboks’ most impregnable fortress, where their winning record touches 79%.

As Rassie Erasmus celebrates his record-breaking 55th match in charge, the world’s number one team and back-to-back Rugby World Cup winners, have a rare opportunity to boost their rankings score and move further ahead of New Zealand.

South Africa are big favourites to win with something to spare and a victory where the winning margin exceeeds 15 points will nudge their score up by all of 0.03 points, from 93.94 to 93.97.

Points are awarded to the winning team on an exchange basis, with the size of the reward dependent on the gap between the teams before kick off. Too large a gap and the winning team goers away empty-handed from a rankings perspective.

Since South Africa climbed above New Zealand and moved to the top of the rankings last September, extra points have only been available to them in only three out of the eight Tests they’ve played. And it would have been three from nine had Scotland’s win over Argentina not moved them closer to the Springboks in the rankings.

Only in the away wins over Ireland (0.88) and France (0.86) in November and the Rugby Championship victory over Argentina (0.58) at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, resulted in the Springboks picking up points, collectively worth 2.32 points.

As ‘victims’ of their own success, South Africa’s dominance meant that the win on home soil against Argentina proceeeding the London match with the Pumas, and subsequent victories over Japan, Italy, Wales, and now England, have drawn a blank.

But that will changhe against Scotland, unless the unthinkable happens and they slip up in Pretoria for the first time since 2018.

This weekend, it is New Zealand who are resigned to the fact that their ranking will remain unchanged as Italy are well below them in the rankings (eight places and 13.73 points).

If in the unlikely event a win for the All Blacks, who’ve never been beaten by Italy, is accompanied by a historic loss for South Africa, the Springboks will be knocked off top spot.

As is the case with New Zealand, third-placed Ireland cannot improve their ranking score for a win against a Japanese side outside of the world’s top 10.

Below them, though, several changes are possible, most notably a fall to eighth for England if their poor run of form continues against Fiji at the Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, and Argentina and Australia also beat, Wales and France, respectively.

If such a fate befalls them, it would equal England’s lowest-ever ranking, which was last held in February 2016, when Eddie Jones had been handed the job of restoring Red Rose fortunes after the failed home World Cup campaign under Stuart Lancaster.