Updated rugby rankings: Springboks win, Wallabies-Argentina draw

The Springboks featured in their final home Test of the year on Saturday, and ultimately claimed an impressive 29-24 win over the All Blacks at the FNB Stadium, a result which saw Rassie Erasmus’ team improve their handy buffer at the top of the World Rugby rankings.

The 29-24 victory also gave the Springboks a 2-1 lead in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with one test remaining in Baltimore, USA on Saturday.

As a result of the deserved win, the Springboks received another 0.95 rankings points, and South Africa now hold a 2.43 lead at the summit of the standings.

Meanwhile, Argentina and the Wallabies played out a high-scoring draw in the second leg of their standalone two-Test series. Australia had won the first Test 27–21 in San Juan the previous weekend.

The draw hasn’t had much of an impact on the rankings as Australia hold onto seventh spot.

In one other game to note, Japan celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Japan Rugby Football Union with a dominant nine-try victory over Canada.

UPDATED WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS AFTER SPRINGBOKS GO 2-1 UP IN SERIES

Rank	Country	Points
1	South Africa	94.33
2	New Zealand	91.90
3	Ireland	88.08
4	France	87.43
5	England	85.68
6	Scotland	84.78
7	Australia	83.55
8	Argentina	82.24
9	Fiji	78.00
10	Wales	76.38
11	Italy	76.30
12	Japan	75.94
13	Georgia	73.94
14	USA	70.22
15	Portugal	69.39
16	Chile	66.94
17	Spain	66.83
18	Uruguay	65.75
19	Tonga	65.14
20	Samoa	64.73

VIEW WORLD RUGBY MEN’S RANKINGS >>

Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry fixtures and results

• Friday, 7 August: Stormers 21-38 New Zealand, Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
• Tuesday, 11 August: Sharks 0-54 New Zealand, Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban
• Saturday, 15 August: Bulls 19-50 New Zealand, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
• Saturday, 22 August: First Test, Springboks 16-33 New Zealand, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
• Tuesday, 25 August: Lions 35-41 New Zealand, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
• Saturday, 29 August: Springboks 33-26 New Zealand, Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
• Saturday, 5 September: Springboks 29-24 New Zealand, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg – 17:10
• Saturday, 12 September: Springboks v All Blacks, Fourth Test, M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, United States – kick off at 23:00 (SA time)

Both the Springboks and All Blacks will now share a flight to the USA to prepare for the final match on Saturday night in a tour that has lived up to its branding as “Like no Other”.

Erasmus said: “Hopefully me and Dave (Rennie, All Blacks head coach) will have a beer. His will be a little bit more bitter and mine will be a little sweeter. But then on Sunday we arrive there and we get into camp again.

“We assess the injuries; we start planning and it’s number one and two again. It’s the greatest rivalry and we play to try and win the series, and they will try and to draw the series. So, no, it’s going to be flipping important.”