World Rankings: Boks lead cut, Six Nations team at 3-year low

The latest round of Nations Championship and Nations Cup matches will again have a big impact on the World Rugby Men’s Rankings once they are officially updated at 12:00 on Monday (BST).

Six of the 24 teams involved are set to climb the rankings, while six will fall, including Italy, who will find themselves ranked in their lowest position for nearly three years.

The Azzurri’s 57-10 defeat to Australia was their third straight loss of the Nations Championship, following earlier defeats to Japan and New Zealand.

Much of the progress made in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, when they beat Scotland and claimed a first-ever win over England, has been undone and the Azzurri will be ranked in 12th at the halfway point of the pool phase of the competition.

The last time Italy were ranked as lowly as that was on 18 September, 2023, during the Rugby World Cup in France.

Italy’s imminent demise will result in Japan and Wales moving up a place despite their respective defeats to France and South Africa, as neither of those teams lost rankings points, whereas the latest Azzurri defeat cost them 1.01 points.

It is almost three years to the day that Japan were last ranked in 10th place.

Otherwise, the top 10 remains unchanged, albeit with revised rankings points totals for all bar the world’s number one team South Africa and fourth-placed France.

With the Springboks not getting any rankings reward for their 43-0 destruction of Wales, their lead at the top will be down to 1.68 points as New Zealand will pick up 1.24 points for their 40-21 win over third-ranked Ireland.

England and Scotland also gain points for hard-fought wins over Argentina and Fiji, to cement their positions in fifth and sixth.

A monumental weekend in the World Rugby Nations Cup featured some eye-catching results, including a win for Men’s Rugby World Cup debutants Hong Kong China, who beat hosts Uruguay 42-40 courtesy of a last-gasp, long-range penalty.

Hong Kong China will move up one place as a result of the spectacular win, as will Romania who came from behind to beat Samoa 38-37 in an equally dramatic match.

Improving their rating by nearly two points, Hong Kong China leap above Canada into 23rd place, despite Canada holding off Zimbabwe, 23-19, while Romania will be up to 21st, one place behind Samoa, who conceded 24 unanswered points in the final quarter.

Revised World Rankings – Top 25

1. South Africa – 93.96 (-)
2. New Zealand – 92.28 (-)
3. Ireland – 88.08 (-)
4. France – 87.43 (-)
5. England – 85.68 (-)
6. Scotland – 84.78 (-)
7. Argentina – 83.13 (-)
8. Australia – 81.61 (-)
9. Fiji – 78.00 (-)
10. Japan – 76.42 (+1)
11. Wales – 76.38 (+1)
12. Italy – 76.30 (-2)
13. Georgia – 73.94 (-)
14. USA – 70.22 (-)
15. Portugal – 69.39 (-)
16. Chile – 66.94 (+2)
17. Spain – 66.83 (-1)
18. Uruguay – 65.75 (-1)
19. Tonga – 65.14 (+1)
20. Samoa – 64.73 (-)
21. Romania – 62.45 (+1)
22. Belgium – 61.03 (+1)
23. Hong Kong China – 60.74 (+1)
24. Canada – 60.37 (-1)
25. Zimbabwe – 57.68 (-)

*Positional change in brackets