With England’s recent loss to France in Paris the Springboks have bumped up 1 place to 4th in the World Rugby rankings.
The Spriongboks slumped to a lowly 5th place in the World of their loss to Argentina in Durban during The Rugby Championship, however Rugby World Cup hosts England have now claimed that spot.
With 1 match to go before the start of the Rugby World Cup, England find themselves in danger of going into the tournament ranked lower than Pool A rivals Australia and Wales.
Stuart Lancaster’s men are now just 1.3 points ahead of 6th-placed Wales, who travel to Dublin to play Ireland on Saturday. England conclude their Rugby World Cup warm-up campaign against the Irish the following weekend.
England lost 1.29 ratings points at the weekend to drop to 84.24 points, dropping them below South Africa. France remain in 7th, although Les Bleus have now closed to just over 2 rating points behind Wales.
It may not have been the prettiest of wins but Scotland’s 16 / 12 victory over Italy in Turin was enough to see them return to the world’s top 10 ranked nations. Scotland move from 12th to 10th, climbing above Tonga and Samoa, after gaining a full rating point.
Japan climb up 1 place to 14th at the expense of Italy, even though their 30 / 8 win against Uruguay did not come with any boost to their rating.
The Brave Blossoms remain on 71.15 points while Italy, on 70.84 points, are marginally better off in the rankings than the USA (70.36), who made it 3 wins in a row against neighbours Canada with a 41 / 23 victory in Ottawa. Canada’s 5th straight loss cost them 1.27 ratings points but they remain 18th, 2 places behind the USA Eagles.
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