World Rankings: Fiji eyes equal all-time high

NEWS: As the Nations Series gets underway this weekend when England hosts the All Blacks and Scotland take on Fiji, some teams can move up the World Rugby rankings.

Ireland is ranked in the top spot closely followed by the Springboks but could the November internationals change that scenario? We take a look.

Four of the top ten ranked teams are in action this weekend. In third place is the All Blacks followed by France, England, Argentina, Scotland, Italy, Fiji, and Australia.

The latest World rankings permutations reveal that England and New Zealand cannot improve their rankings regardless of the margin of victory they can close the gap on those above them.

The All Blacks could move within 1.27 rating points of South Africa in second place if they win by more than 15 points. A smaller margin of victory for the All Blacks move closer to the Springboks with just 2.1 behind.

If the All Blacks manage victory by more than 15 points, England will fall one place to occupy the sixth spot but Scott Robertsons’ side will remain in third place even if they suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of the Red Roses.

This would benefit Argentina as they will then occupy their highest position in more than eight years. Los Pumas were last ranked fifth in June 2016 on the back of a home win against France.

England cannot improve their ranking either but a victory of more than 15 points over the All Blacks will leave them trailing France by just 0.01 rating points – a smaller margin will see them trail Les Bleus by 0.53 rating points.

A draw with Scotland will be enough for Fiji to climb above Italy into eighth place.

But a bigger prize awaits the Pacific Islanders if they can record a first win at Murrayfield as they will equal their highest-ever position of seventh in victory, a position they last occupied in October following their passage to the World Cup 2023 quarterfinals.

Fiji will climb above Scotland in the process as their hosts slip to eighth – the first time they have been the higher ranked of the two nations since February 2016 when Fiji were 10th and Scotland 11th.

That was only the second time other than a 10-week stay in 2015 that Fiji have been above Scotland in the rankings in the last 14 years.

Scotland cannot fall lower than eighth in defeat as their rating will remain above 80 points to keep them above Italy.
Gregor Townsend’s men also are unable to improve on seventh place in victory as they cannot gain enough points to catch either Argentina or a beaten England above them.