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A rare defeat for South Africa against France at the Stade de France on Friday night will open the doors for New Zealand to replace the Springboks at the top of the World Rugby rankings for the second time this year.
Just 0.40 points separate the teams after last weekend’s results in round four of The Nations Championship, and that deficit will be erased if events move on All black people way.
As was the case with South Africa’s victory Italy Last Saturday, New Zealand will not be rewarded for beating lowly Wales, who are eight places below the tourists in 10th, in Cardiff this weekend.
However, with South Africa set to drop 1.57 points in defeat, and more if the gap exceeds 15 points, the southern hemisphere giants will swap first and second place if the Boks slip up at the top where they won the Webb Ellis Cup in 2023.
New Zealand briefly held top spot in August, in the early moments of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series, when they defeated the Springboks in the first of four Tests.
However, the Springboks have since looked the rest of the way and have the chance to extend their lead to 1.10 points with a tenth win in 11 meetings. It has been 21 years since France beat South Africa at the Stade de France (26-20 in 2005).
Beyond the battle for supremacy at the top, England will be hoping that results go their way as they look to move up the rankings.
England can move up to third this weekend if they win Japan by more than 15 points, France loses by the same margin to South Africa, i Ireland to lose from Fiji at the Aviva Stadium. While the first two parts of that equation are more than achievable, Fiji have always left Dublin defeated and face another uphill task.
Meanwhile, whoever wins in between Scotland and Australia at Murrayfield on Sunday will finish the weekend in sixth place, Scotland’s current position.
As for the Cup of Nations, three teams are in with a chance of equaling their record placing.
In the unlikely event that Georgia to lose from Tonga by more than 15 points and Portugal beat Samoa by about a wide margin, Os Lobos would knock off Georgia and tie their previous best of 13th.
meanwhile, Spain could equal their all-time record of 14 if their Iberian neighbors Portugal lose by more than 15 points to Samoa and beat Chile.
But Chile they will once again become the higher-ranked of the two nations if they leave Madrid with a win and equal their all-time record of 16th.
World Rugby Men’s Top 25 Rankings
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