World Rankings: All eyes on Paris as All Blacks hope for French favour

A rare defeat for South Africa against France at the Stade de France on Friday night will open the door for New Zealand to replace the Springboks at the top of the World Rugby Men’s Rankings for the second time this year.

Just 0.40 points separates the teams after last weekend’s results in the fourth round of The Nations Championship, and that deficit wil be wiped out if events go the All Blacks way.

As was the case with South Africa’s win over Italy last Saturday, New Zealand won’t be rewarded for a victory over the lower-ranked Wales, who are eight places below the tourists in 10th, in Cardiff this weekend.

However, with South Africa set to lose 1.57 points in defeat, and more if the margin exceeds 15 points, the southern hemipshere giants will swap places in first and second if the Boks slip up at the gorund where they lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2023.

New Zealand briefly held top spot in August, in the early throes of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series, when they beat the Springboks in the first of four Tests.

However, the Springboks have looked down on the rest ever since and they have an opportunity to increase their lead to 1.10 points with a tenth win in 11 meetings. It is 21 years since France beat South Africa at Stade de France (26-20 in 2005).

Outside of the battle for supremacy at the top, England will be hoping to results go their way as they look to move up the rankings.

England can go as high as third this weekend if they beat Japan by more than 15 points, France lose by the same margin to South Africa, and Ireland lose to Fiji at the Aviva Stadium. While the first two parts of that equation are more than achieveable, Fiji have always left Dublin beaten and face another mountainous task.

Meanwhile, whoever wins between Scotland and Australia at Murrayfield on Sunday will end the weekend in sixth, Scotland’s current position.

As for the Nations Cup, three teams are in with a chance of equalling their record ranking.

In the unlikely event that Georgia lose to Tonga by more than 15 points and Portugal beat Samoa by a smiliarly big margin, Os Lobos would oust Georgia and match their previous best of 13th.

Meanwhile, Spain could equal their all-time high of 14th if their Iberian neighbours Portugal lose by more than 15 points against Samoa and they beat Chile.

But Chile will once again become the higher-ranked of the two nations if they leave Madrid with a victory to equal their all-time high of 16th.

World Rugby Men’s Rankings Top 25

1. South Africa – 93.09
2. New Zealand – 92.65
3. Ireland – 88.70
4. France – 87.49
5. England – 86.99
6. Scotland – 84.40
7. Australia – 83.12
8. Argentina – 81.62
9. Fiji – 77.79
10. Wales – 77.37
11. Italy – 76.30
12. Japan – 75.25
13. Georgia – 73.94
14. Portugal – 70.52
15. USA – 67.80
16. Spain – 67.73
17. Tonga – 65.87
18. Chile – 65.81
19. Samoa – 65.31
20. Uruguay – 64.86
21. Canada – 62.29
22. Belgium – 62.00
23. Romania – 61.72
24. Hong Kong China
25. Zimbabwe