World Rugby Men's Rankings preview

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the second round of The Rugby Championship and a match on the road to Men's Rugby World Cup 2027 in Brazil this weekend.

Permutation highlights:

• South Africa will surrender top spot in the rankings if they fail to beat Australia in Perth with a draw seeing Ireland take over as the number one side by just 0.01 rating points.
• The Springboks cannot improve their rating with back-to-back victories over Australia in The Rugby Championship 2024 due to the 14.15 rating points between the teams before home weighting is factored in.
• Australia will climb above Italy into ninth place if they can turn a heavy defeat into victory in Perth.
• New Zealand cannot improve on third place even with a victory by more than 15 points over Argentina as this would only be worth 0.34 rating points.
• Back-to-back losses against Los Pumas for the first time would, however, see the All Blacks slip one place to fourth with France the beneficiaries.
• Argentina will climb at least one place in victory, swapping places with England, but a win by more than 15 points would also lift Los Pumas above New Zealand into fourth.
• Los Pumas last occupied fourth place during Rugby World Cup 2015, while fifth would equal New Zealand’s lowest-ever ranking – a position they occupied on two separate occasions in August 2022.
• Brazil cannot improve their rating with victory over Paraguay in the Qualifier Sudamericano 2025 Phase 2 opening match on Sunday. This is a consequence of the 8.51 point difference between the teams before home weighting is factored in.
• However, Brazil will slip one place to 30th if they fail to beat the lower-ranked Paraguay, who would jump three places to 38th with a draw.
• Paraguay will climb four places with victory with a jump of six places to 35th possible if the margin is by more than 15 points.