Two teams, 1.68 points, four Tests
South Africa go into next Saturday’s series opener at Ellis Park ranked first in the world on 93.96 rating points. New Zealand sit second on 92.28. That is the entire gap between them before a ball is kicked in Johannesburg.
The ranking changes hands on the result, not the margin. Any New Zealand win, by one point or by thirty, puts Dave Rennie’s side back on top of the table for the first time since August 2025. A draw leaves Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks exactly where they are. Only a home victory extends the current order.
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Townsville moved the numbers, not the order
The last adjustment before the series came on Saturday afternoon in Australia, where the Wallabies beat Japan in Les Kiss’s second match in charge. The win was worth 0.58 rating points, lifting Australia to 82.67. Argentina, on 83.13, keep seventh place by less than half a point. Japan shed the same 0.58 and stay twelfth on 75.36, which leaves the top 20 unchanged going into the weekend.
Australia now travel to Argentina for back-to-back Tests at the Estadio 23 de Agosto. Beat Los Pumas in the first and the Wallabies climb above them, though seventh is the ceiling either way. Argentina protect the position with a win of any size. Even a margin north of 15 points would leave them short of Scotland, sixth on 84.78.
The table before the first whistle
Ireland (88.08), France (87.43) and England (85.68) fill out the top five behind the two southern-hemisphere heavyweights. Fiji hold ninth on 78.00, Wales tenth on 76.38 and Italy eleventh on 76.30, the closest those two nations have been at this level in years. Georgia sit thirteenth, the United States fourteenth, Portugal fifteenth.
Four Tests will settle this series. The first one settles who is world number one when the second comes around.
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