World Rugby Men's Rankings preview: 20-21 October, 2023

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the semi-finals of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

Permutation highlights:

• New Zealand will return to number one if they beat Argentina and South Africa lose to England with the Springboks dropping two places to third in this scenario.
• The All Blacks have not topped the rankings since November 2021.
• However, if both South Africa and New Zealand see their hopes of a record fourth Rugby World Cup triumph ended then Ireland will return to top spot.
• A narrow defeat would see South Africa fall one place to second with England climbing above a beaten New Zealand into fourth place.
• Argentina will swap places with Scotland, taking over sixth place, if they beat New Zealand.
• Los Pumas can go as high as third – for the first time since June 2008 – if they beat New Zealand by more than 15 points and England win by any same margin.
• Such a scenario would lift England to second place with South Africa and New Zealand falling to fifth and sixth respectively.
• This would be a new low for the All Blacks with fifth their previous worst position.
• It would also be the first time since the rankings were introduced in October 2003 that both South Africa and New Zealand would not be in the top four.
• England have not been ranked as high as second since February 2021.
• South Africa will drop to fifth if they lose to England by more than 15 points.
• There will be no positional changes if New Zealand and South Africa win to set up a repeat of the Rugby World Cup 1995 final.
• South Africa can only gain a maximum of 0.46 by beating England, allowing New Zealand to close the gap as they can earn up to 0.65 for victory over Los Pumas.

VIEW WORLD RUGBY MEN'S RANKINGS POWERED BY CAPGEMINI >>

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