{"id":284549,"date":"2025-11-14T19:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284549\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:04:09","slug":"mad-scramble-in-world-rankings-in-pivotal-weekend-for-rwc-2027-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/284549\/","title":{"rendered":"Mad scramble in World Rankings in pivotal weekend for RWC 2027 draw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In their own right, the matches between Wales<\/a> and Japan<\/a> and Scotland<\/a> and Argentina<\/a> may not be the biggest in the eyes of rugby supporters outside of those countries.<\/p>\n

However, what happens in Cardiff and Edinburgh<\/a> this weekend will almost certainly have a significant bearing on what the draw for Rugby World Cup<\/a> 2027 looks like when it takes place in Sydney on 3 December.<\/p>\n

Starting with Band 1 \u2013 reserved for teams ranked first to sixth, Argentina are in pole position to avoid being in the same pool as previous champions South Africa, New Zealand<\/a> and England.<\/p>\n

They are the sixth-ranked nation and know that a win over Scotland will almost certainly secure them a spot in Band 1. To stand any chance of replacing them in the top six, Scotland need to beat the Pumas<\/a> by 16 points or more, which they achieved the last time the teams met at Murrayfield in November 2022 (52-29), and hope that England<\/a> don\u2019t beat the All Blacks<\/a> by the same convincing margin.<\/p>\n

Even then, Scotland would be 0.06 points behind Argentina in the rankings, meaning they\u2019d need England to beat the Pumas, and subsequently reduce their rating the following weekend. Scotland have another match to play themselves, against Tonga<\/a> on Sunday week, but no points will be awarded to them for beating a side well down the rankings. Scotland will replace Australia<\/a> in seventh with a win, as long as the Wallabies lose to Ireland<\/a> in Dublin, while a big result for the Wallabies puts them right back in the mix for Band 1.<\/p>\n

As for Gregor Townsend<\/a>, the important thing is to win the game, the calculators can come out later. \u201cI think it would be great to be in the top six, but not being in the top six is not as much of an issue as it has been in recent years with all the second-place teams qualifying and a couple of third-place teams. The importance [of the Argentina game] is we play well, we build on our performance last week and we get the win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s highly unlikely given the results that need to happen, but there is still a doomsday scenario for France, which would see the last tournament hosts drop out of the top six for the first time since January 2020. For this to happen, Les Bleus would need to be beaten by Fiji<\/a> by 16 points or more in tandem with an Argentina victory in Scotland. This would also put Fiji, who are ranked ninth back in the mix for top six, something they have never achieved before.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, down in Cardiff, whoever wins between Wales and Japan will find themselves ranked high enough to be in Band 2. Wales currently occupy 12th spot but the marginal difference between the teams will be wiped out if the Brave Blossoms win. With Japan still to play Georgia, who face Canada<\/a> this weekend, and Wales entertaining visits from New Zealand and South Africa<\/a> in the coming weeks, it won\u2019t be a complete fait accompli for Eddie Jones\u2019 side if they lose.<\/p>\n

Bands 3 and 4 are slightly complicated by the fact that it is not yet known whether Samoa<\/a> will take their place in Australia. As the team ranked 17th, Samoa will be in Band 3 if they come out on top in next Tuesday\u2019s winner-takes-all qualification shootout with Belgium. However, the team ranked 19th will be pulled into Band 3 if they miss out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In their own right, the matches between Wales and Japan and Scotland and Argentina may not be the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-284549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}