South Africa vs Ireland - the battle to be ranked number one

Ireland will replace South Africa as the number one ranked team in the world if they pull off a sensational win against the Springboks in Pretoria this Saturday.

Andy Farrell’s side go into the match at Loftus Versfeld just under four points worse off than their hosts in second place, but that would flip on its head if they achieve a big enough margin of victory.

A win by 16 points or more would result in a swing of just over five rating points with Ireland sitting top on 93.22 points, a position they last held in the middle of last October, with the Springboks placed second on 92.01.

Their only victory to date over the Springboks on South African soil was at Newlands in June 2016 when Paddy Jackson’s kicking and tries from Jared Payne and Conor Murray helped them to a historic 26-20 win, despite CJ Stander’s red card.

Ireland went into the last Rugby World Cup as the world’s number one team having held that position for 14 months. But their quarter-final exit at the hands of New Zealand coupled with South Africa’s progression to the last four enabled the Springboks to replace them, and they have remained proudly on top ever since.

Ireland won last year’s seismic Rugby World Cup encounter 13-8 on neutral soil in Paris and have won the last three meetings overall, but they were well beaten on their only previous visit to Pretoria in 1998, losing 33-0, when current Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus was among the try scorers.

In the overall head-to-head record, South Africa have won twice as many games as Ireland (18-9) with one draw.