World Rankings: A change in the top three?
PREVIEW: It’s Round Two of the 2023 Rugby Championship and World Rugby has revealed the ranking permutations for this weekend’s matches.
The All Blacks are at home against the Springboks, while the Wallabies host Argentina.
New Zealand must win by more than 15 points to replace France in second place.
A win by such a margin would see New Zealand cut Ireland’s lead at the top to 1.19 points.
South Africa cannot fall from fourth place in defeat as they would still have a cushion of at least 5.26 rating points over Scotland below.
If South Africa can avoid defeat in Auckland they will swap places with the All Blacks to become the higher-ranked of the two nations in third.
Argentina and Australia will also trade places if Los Pumas come away from Parramatta with a win in the other Rugby Championship match this weekend.
A win by a margin of more than 15 points would see Los Pumas also climb above England into sixth position, their highest position since November last year.
Australia will climb one place to sixth – swapping places with England – with any margin of victory over Argentina.
England haven’t been as low as seventh since February 2016, at the start of Eddie Jones’ reign as head coach.
Argentina cannot fall any lower than their present position of eighth as they have a large enough advantage over Wales.
