New World Rugby rankings see Wales make progress and Springboks in own league
The global order has shifted massively over the last two months
South Africa have gone clear at the top of the global rankings
After seven weeks of blood, sweat and tears, the Rugby World Cup is done and dusted for another four years, with South Africa emerging as champions again.
The Springboks lost just once in France, falling to a narrow defeat to pool stage opponents Ireland, before squeezing pasts the hosts and England in the knockout rounds and holding on to beat New Zealand 12-11 in a tense final in Paris on Saturday. They are the only men’s team to win the competition four times, having also won in Japan four years ago as well as in 2007 and 1995.
Unsurprisingly, their dominance in this year’s tournament has seen them climb to the top of the global rankings having started the competition in third place behind France and Ireland. To get the latest rugby news sent straight to your inbox, sign up to WalesOnline’s daily rugby newsletter here.
In fact, the Boks are now well and truly in a league of their own as far as the rankings are concerned, with their narrow win over New Zealand seeing them gain an extra 1.75 ranking points. That has put them on 94.54 points overall – nearly four clear of anyone else.
Despite finishing as tournament runners-up, however, the team in second place in the rankings is not the All Blacks, who sink to third as a result of their defeat in the final. Nor is it England or Argentina, who battled it out in the Bronze Final on Friday night.
Rather, it is Andy Farrell’s Ireland side who sit in second. Having started the tournament top of the pile, their quarter-final exit at the hands of New Zealand only saw them drop so far and they remain the best-ranked team in the Six Nations, with France sitting in fourth place after their disappointing home tournament.
England, meanwhile, kept their spot in the world’s top five sides after securing a third-place finish at the World Cup with victory over the Pumas. Steve Borthwick’s side went into the tournament down in eighth after being humiliated by Fiji at Twickenham but are now well ahead of sixth-placed Scotland after losing just one game in France.
Argentina are down in seventh and just 0.04 points ahead of Wales, who they knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals. Warren Gatland’s side were holding on to a top-10 spot just two months ago and while they would have liked to have gone further in the competition, the jump to eighth is progress indeed, as they find themselves well ahead of the likes of Australia, Fiji and Italy with the top global five certainly not out of reach heading into the 2024 Six Nations.
The latest World Rugby rankings in full
1
South Africa 94.54 (+1.75)
2 (↑3) Ireland 90.57
3 (↓2) New Zealand 89.80 (-1.75)
4
France 87.81
5
England 85.46 (+1.74)
6
Scotland 83.43
7
Argentina 80.68 (-1.74)
8
Wales 80.64
9
Australia 77.48
10
Fiji 76.38
11
Italy 75.93
12
Japan 74.27
13
Portugal 72.78
14
Georgia 72.68
15
Samoa 72.23
