Significant Rugby World Cup seeding news has landed early this weekend with Georgia and Japan swapping banding places.
Eddie Jones’ Japan beat Georgia 25-23 in Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, with both sides swapping positions at 12th and 13th in the World Rugby rankings.
This means that Georgia drops from 12th to 13th, and crucially into the third band of the teams ahead of the Rugby World Cup pool seedings draw on December 3.
It’s a big blow for Richard Cockerill’s side as it means Georgia will find themselves in an effective pool of death at Rugby World Cup 2027. They will face off against both a top-seeded team and a second-seeded side, as per the six-team bands.
On the flip side, it’s great news for Japan, who are now safe in the second band of six teams between seventh and twelfth.
A converted try from Dylan Riley and seven penalties from fly-half Seungsin Lee were enough to see Japan past the Georgians.
A late surge from the hosts seemed to have won the game for the Lelos, but penalty in the 80th minute for Lee sealed a memorable victory for Eddie Jones’ side.
South Africa, New Zealand, England and Ireland have already booked their spots in Band 1 and they were joined last weekend by Argentina, who are now safely in the top six following their shock comeback victory against over Scotland.
They won’t drop out even if they are hammered by England this weekend.
Scotland’s 33-24 defeat at home to Los Pumas has officially ended any hopes Gregor Townsend’s team had of breaking into the top six and Fiji have also dropped out of the race after losing 34-21 to France.
The big result this weekend, however, is that France could pontentially dropped the second band if they lose to Australia in Paris by 16 points or more.