World Rankings: How Springboks can drop to third

SPOTLIGHT: World Rugby has published the ranking permutations ahead of the third round of the Rugby Championship this weekend.

New Zealand have an opportunity to move above South Africa if they go to Johannesburg and do a number on the world champions.

However, a win by the required margin of more than 15 points would not result in Scott Robertson’s men going top, that honour would fall to Ireland instead, with the All Blacks moving up to second and the Springboks falling to third.

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A smaller margin of defeat would still be enough for South Africa to surrender top spot to Ireland with New Zealand remaining third.

South Africa, meanwhile, can increase their advantage over Ireland at the top of the rankings by up to 0.39 points – to 1.38 – if they win by more than 15 points.

Australia, the only side without a win in the Rugby Championship 2024, can leapfrog Argentina in the rankings if they come away from La Plata with a big win.

The Wallabies will gain two places if they win by more than 15 points and move up to seventh, above both Argentina and Italy.

Los Pumas would fall to eighth in this eventuality with Scotland replacing them in sixth.

A smaller margin of victory would still lift the Wallabies above Italy into eighth.

Argentina cannot improve on sixth place this weekend as England have too big a cushion above them to be caught.

A win by more than 15 points would still leave Los Pumas 1.7 rating points shy of England.