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Second-best Springboks left hanging in world rankings

By Jon Newcombe
SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA - SEPTEMBER 21: Bautista Delguy of Argentina tackles Jesse Kriel of South Africa during the the Rugby Championship 2024 match between Argentina Pumas and South Africa Springboks at Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades on September 21, 2024 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. (Photo by Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images)

South Africa will have to wait until November before they get a chance to reclaim their place at the top of the men’s rankings.

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Despite losing 29-28 to Argentina last week, the Springboks will not be rewarded for turning things around in the final round of The Rugby Championship in Nelspruit this Saturday.

The World Rugby points exchange systems works against them on this occasion because with home advantage and 7.47 points and four places separating the teams, a bounce-back victory would not have any impact on their rating.

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus speaks about what Los Pumas will bring to the table

Video Spacer

Rassie Erasmus speaks about what Los Pumas will bring to the table

Even a big turnaround would not lead to an improvement in their rating of 91.77 points, which leaves them currently 0.35 adrift of Ireland.

Ireland replaced them as the official world’s best team when the Springboks fell to the agonising defeat in Santiago del Estero, ending the Springboks’ 13-month unbroken reign at the top as a result.

And they will stay there until test match rugby resumes in November. With the Springboks exclusively playing lower-ranked opposition on their European tour – England (5th), Scotland (7th) and Wales (11th), the reality is that they will need Ireland to slip up to topple them.

Ireland host New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia in a mouth-watering line-up of fixtures in Dublin.

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Fixture
Rugby Championship
South Africa
48 - 7
Full-time
Argentina
All Stats and Data

Victory for Argentina will be enough to lift them above England into fifth place with France also overhauled if they win by more 15 points.

Argentina could climb to third – for the first time since June 2008 – if they win by that margin and Australia beat New Zealand. This would equal their all-time high.

One consolation for Springbok fans is that they are safe in second place even if they lose to Los Pumas for the second consecutive week.

That is because New Zealand are also unable to improve their rating with a Bledisloe Cup II victory over Australia. The All Blacks’ current rating is 9.38 points better than Australia’s before home weighting is factored in.

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However, defeat in the second Bledisloe Cup encounter will see the All Blacks drop one place to fourth with France the beneficiaries.

It is possible for New Zealand to equal their all-time low of fifth if they lose and Argentina go back-to-back against South Africa, although only if one of the margins if by more than 15 points.

Meanwhile, Australia will jump two places to eighth if they avoid defeat against New Zealand in Wellington, a graveyard for the All Blacks in recent years with only win from their last six Tests in the windy city.

Related

Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Comments

10 Comments
P
Petrus78 10 days ago

Let's be honest....it's much easier to score world ranking points playing against Northern hemisphere teams in the six nations all the time...the six nations is a second tier competition compared to The Rugby Championship....past world cup results tell you the whole story.....sorry Ireland...

F
FC 11 days ago

"Ireland replaced them as the official world’s best team...."

World's number one RANKED team.

P
Phill 11 days ago

And still...

B
Bull Shark 11 days ago

I spilt my beer at this headline I don’t care so much.

S
SteveD 11 days ago

And you still got a stupid (I assume) response from the bogtrotting Irish git Terry24 (aka on my thread 'Hidden' because I finally managed to exhaust his vitriol so he ghosted me) about how wonderful his team are as they should have won the RWC last year because they beat the Boks etc etc. Keep up the good work of irritating the doos, BS!

T
Terry24 12 days ago

Ireland have a potential 7.6 points to lose in November but a whopping 0.4 points to gain. A big away win against France and a battling win in Durban gave them the majority of the points they will win in 2024.


More importantly is the fight for #6 in the rankings. Why?


Because RWC 2027 has six groups. The top 6 ranked teams for the RWC draw will avoid each other in the pools and avoid a top 6 team in the 1/8 finals (should they qualify 1st in pool). If you miss out on top 6 you will have a top 6 team in your group, and if you don't win your group chances are you will face another top 6 team in the first knock out round (1/8 finals). That's pretty major.

Argentina are holding the #6 spot now at 84 points with Scotland @ 82 points and Italy/Australia just under 80 points. Massive for Australia with a home world cup to get into the top 6. Scotland regretting that loss to France at home and Italy away.

November matches to watch out for in this regard:

Italy v Argentina

Scotland v Australia

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