World Rankings record equalled as Scotland overtake oldest rival

Amid the flurry of points and tries on the opening weekend of The Nations Championship and the World Rugby Nations Cup, there will be several changes to the World Rugby Men’s Rankings, with 11 of the 24 teams in action seeing their position altered, once they are officially updated at noon on Monday.

Most significantly, Scotland will move up a couple of places to equal their all-time high of fifth after beating Argentina 47-38 at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Córdoba.

In a helter-skelter match typical of the weekend, where an average of 69 points were scored per match across both competitions, Scotland registered their highest-ever score against the Pumas in Argentina.

It not only gives them a winning start to the Nations Championship but also an improved rankings score of 84.11, which will be enough for them to replace the Pumas in the top five and leapfrog England in the process, even though their rivals south of the border don’t lose any points for their 45-21 defeat to the Springboks.

The last time Scotland had occupied fifth place was during Rugby World Cup 2023.

Gap narrows at the top

While no other team in the top 10 has managed to make any ground, South Africa’s advantage over New Zealand at the top of the rankings will be cut to 2.90 points by virtue of the All Blacks‘ nail-biting 34-32 win over a weakened France.

The win in Christchurch will boost the All Blacks score to 91.04 points, with South Africa, who won’t receive any reward for beating England, static on 93.94 points.

Ireland, who edged Australia 33-31, remain in third, one ahead of France, while the Wallabies will also be unchanged in eighth.

Wales will fall short of breaking back into the top 10 despite their 39-24 win over Fiji and Italy’s 27-10 loss to Japan.

USA, Samoa and Canada will join Scotland in improving their ranking by a couple of places, while Chile are set to move up one as a result of their 48-31 win over Romania.

After just about getting the better of Portugal, 30-29, the US Eagles will climb to 14th – their best position since the start of RWC 2019.

Having fallen to their lowest-ever rankings, Samoa and Canada are now on their way back up.

Samoa will go from 20th to 18th, thanks to a 66-19 win over first time Men’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers Hong Kong China, while Canada’s 42-42 draw against Spain – the highest-scoring draw in Test rugby – will be enough to lift them up from 25th to 23rd.

Spain are the biggest fallers, sinking three places to 20th, the Pumas will be down two, while Portugal, Uruguay, Hong Kong China and Zimbabwe each lose a place after starting the Nations Cup on the wrong foot.

Updated World Rugby Men’s Rankings Top 25

1. South Africa – 93.94 (-)
2. New Zealand – 91.04 (-)
3. Ireland – 89.32 (-)
4. France – 86.75 (-)
5. Scotland – 84.71 (+2)
6. England – 83.91 (-)
7. Argentina – 83.77 (-2)
8. Australia – 81.28 (-)
9. Fiji – 79.53 (-)
10. Italy – 77.31 (-)
11. Wales – 76.68 (-)
12. Japan – 76.42 (-)
13. Georgia – 72.67 (-)
14. USA – 69.40 (+2)
15. Portugal – 68.51 (-1)
16. Uruguay – 68.46 (-1)
17. Chile – 67.31 (+1)
18. Samoa – 66.91 (+2)
19. Tonga – 66.88 (-)
20. Spain – 66.64 (-3)
21. Belgium – 61.02 (-)
22. Romania – 60.08 (-)
23. Canada – 59.63 (+2)
24. Hong Kong China – 59.14 (-1)
25. Zimbabwe – 58.59 (-1)