With the results from round two of the Rugby Championship now in, here is how the Springboks’ victory and All Blacks’ defeat impacted the rankings.
Round one saw South Africa surrender top spot with New Zealand returning to the top ranking for the first time in four years.
However, the Springboks’ win over Australia in Cape Town has once again shaken up the top five.
The Rugby Championship results
Canan Moodie, Kwagga Smith and Eben Etzebeth all crossed the whitewash for the Springboks as they defeated the Wallabies 30-22 in the Mother City and for the first time this year, South Africa have gained rating points.
Rassie Erasmus’ men earned +0.23 points for that win over Australia, avenging their 38-22 defeat in Ellis Park the week prior. This resulted in the Springboks moving ahead of Ireland in the rankings and claiming second spot.
In the later kick-off, Argentina created a bit of history of their own, defeating the All Blacks at home for the first time, clinching a 29-23 victory in Buenos Aires.
However, the margin of victory needed to be by more than 15 points for New Zealand to relinquish top spot in the rankings. The gap between New Zealand and South Africa is just 0.71 rating points, meaning that top spot will be on the line when the two nations collide at Eden Park in round three of the competition.
Meanwhile, Australia (sixth) and Argentina (seventh) retain the same ranking positions they held going into the weekend, but the latter has closed the gap to 1.45 points.
Elsewhere, Japan benefitted from Tonga’s 30-16 victory over Samoa to move into 13th position, swapping places with the latter nation. The former have moved up two positions to 17th, while Canada’s 34-20 win over the USA has resulted in a position climb into 24th for the victors and a two-position drop for the losers.
Latest World Rugby Rankings
As of 24/08/25
1 New Zealand 90.72 (-1.79)
2 South Africa 90.01 (+0.23)
3 Ireland 89.83
4 France 87.82
5 England 87.64
6 Australia 84.85 (-0.23)
7 Argentina 83.40 (+1.79)
8 Scotland 81.57
9 Fiji 80.50
10 Italy 77.77
11 Georgia 74.69
12 Wales 74.05
13 Japan 72.29
14 Samoa 71.08 (-1.40)
15 Spain 69.12
16 Uruguay 67.52
17 Tonga 66.87 (+1.40)
18 USA 66.68 (-1.77)
19 Portugal 66.44
20 Chile 63.83