South Africa move above England in the latest World Rankings

July 29, 2019
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Ultimate Rugby

A stalemate in Wellington against New Zealand was enough to see South Africa move above England and into fourth place in the World Rugby Rankings.

By improving their rating to 86.30 points, South Africa overtake England and move into fourth place in the rankings with a gap of just three-hundredths of a point between the sides.

The other Rugby Championship test saw the return of Christian Lealiifano who succesfully marked his return to the test arena after a successful battle against Leukaemia. The clash saw the Wallabies defeat the Pumas 16-10 at Suncorp Stadium.

The Wallabies picked up just under a quarter of a rating point for the victory to cement their position in sixth place in the rankings, while Argentina are still in 10th despite their second narrow defeat in as many weeks.

Japan are unchanged in 11th but with an improved rating of 76.21 points following their 34-21 win over the higher-ranked Fiji in the opening round of the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup in Kamaishi. Fiji hang on to ninth place despite the loss.

Tonga’s 25-17 defeat to Samoa in monsoon-like conditions in Apia cost them 1.13 points and, as a result, they drop down to 14th place with Italy the side to benefit. Samoa remain in 16th place behind the USA who did not get any reward for their 47-19 home win over Canada, also in the Pacific Nations Cup.