SPOTLIGHT: World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for this weekend’s second rounds of the Six Nations and Rugby Europe Men’s Championship and the Rugby Africa Men’s Cup Repechage 2025 final.
Ireland can cut South Africa’s advantage at the top of the rankings to 1.13 points if they beat Scotland by more than 15 points in the first Sunday fixture of Six Nations 2025.
A defeat of that magnitude will only cost Scotland sixth place if England have beaten France at Twickenham Stadium the day before.
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However, a Scotland win would see them move above Argentina and equal their record high of fifth in the rankings.
Ireland will drop below New Zealand into third if they do not come away from Murrayfield with a victory and they could fall as low as fourth.
France will move up to third and become the highest-ranked European team if they win and Ireland lose and the winning margin in one of the fixtures is more than 15 points.
England will leapfrog Scotland if they win and their Calcutta Cup rivals lose, lifting them into the top six which would be enough for a band one seeding for World Cup 2027 if they remain there come the end of the November internationals.
The same applies if England win by more than 15 points and Scotland draw with Ireland.
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However, defeat by more than 15 points will see Steve Borthwick’s side slide one place to eighth with Australia the beneficiaries.
France cannot fall any lower than their current position of fourth in defeat.
It is not possible for Italy to improve on 10th place this weekend as there aren’t enough rating points on offer for a win over Wales for them to catch Fiji in ninth. The Azzurri can only gain a maximum of 0.39 rating points.
Italy will only surrender 10th place to Wales if they suffer a defeat by more than 15 points.
Wales will drop to a new all-time low of 12th if they lose and Georgia win at home to the Netherlands in the Rugby Europe Men’s Championship.
This would be the first time that Georgia would sit above Wales since the rankings began in October 2003.
This is despite the fact that the Lelos cannot increase their rating this weekend given the 17.29 points between themselves and the Netherlands before home weighting is factored in.
Portugal, the next highest-ranked team in the Rugby Europe Men’s Championship, are also unable to gain any points as they’re at home to a Germany team some 15.87 points below them.
Spain, however, can pick up just under half a point for a big win away to Switzerland. This wouldn’t be enough for them to climb the rankings in isolation but would move them up to 17th if combined with a heavy defeat for their Iberian rivals.
Romania will drop out of the world’s top 20 for the first time in history if they lose to Belgium away.
A new all-time high of 24th is possible for Switzerland if they bounce back from their 110-0 defeat to Georgia with an emphatic victory over Spain.
The Netherlands will move up a couple of places if they become the first team to beat Georgia in the Rugby Europe Men’s Championship in nearly eight years.
The best Belgium can hope for if they beat Romania is a climb of three places to 25th.
Germany will move back into the world’s top 30 with a win over Portugal.
Morocco will climb one place to 38th with victory in the Rugby Africa Men’s Cup Repechage 2025 final in Casablanca, with Tunisia sliding two places to 47th.
However, victory for Tunisia will see them become the higher-ranked of the two nations, the sides potentially swapping places with Tunisia jumping six places to 39th.
