World Rugby Men's Rankings powered by Capgemini preview: 15-17 September, 2022

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for round four of The Rugby Championship 2022 this weekend. 

Permutation highlights:

• Australia will climb above Scotland into seventh place if they beat New Zealand. Sixth is possible if Argentina do not beat South Africa
• The Wallabies can drop to a new low of ninth if beaten by New Zealand
• New Zealand will fall once more to their lowest ever ranking of fifth if they fail to beat the Wallabies in Melbourne
• A victorious New Zealand will climb above a beaten South Africa into third place
• Argentina cannot improve on seventh place even with victory by more than 15 points
• South Africa will drop below England if beaten by more than 15 points by Argentina
• The Springboks cannot improve on third place in victory, but could close to within 0.41 rating points of France above them
• Los Pumas will fall at least one place if beaten by South Africa, two if in tandem with an Australian victory against New Zealand
• Argentina could drop as low as ninth if they lose by more than 15 points and Australia win

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Match officials:

• Mathieu Raynal (France) takes charge of his first Rugby Championship match since Argentina v New Zealand in September 2018
• James Doleman (New Zealand) will make his Rugby Championship debut in Buenos Aires and take charge of South Africa for the first time

Team news highlights:

• Australia welcome back Bernard Foley for the first time since Rugby World Cup 2019 after Noah Lolesio was ruled out, while winger Marika Koroibete will play his 50th test in the Wallabies jersey in Melbourne
• New Zealand's only changes to the starting line-up are enforced with Shannon Frizell and Ardie Savea unavailable. Brodie Retallick returns in the second row with Scott Barrett shifting back to blindside and number eight Hoskins Sotutu earning a first appearance of 2022 
• Argentina are yet to name their match-day squad for Saturday's match 
• South Africa have named an unchanged starting line-up for a match that will Siya Kolisi captain the Springboks for the 40th time in his 70th test. The only changes come on bench with the selection of Elrigh Louw, Faf de Klerk and Andre Esterhuizen

The rankings preview can be read via the Match Notes page in the Media Zone.