World Rugby has confirmed the latest rankings after South Africa's 42-38 defeat to Australia in Perth, a result that ended the Springboks' bid to become the highest-ranked team in history.
The world champions dropped two ranking points following the chaotic one-off Test on Sunday, slipping to 93.09 points overall. However, they remain at the top of the global standings, 1.94 points ahead of New Zealand.
Australia climb to sixth
Australia's victory, which came despite losing four players to the sin-bin in the final 10 minutes, earned them two ranking points. Les Kiss' side have moved from seventh to sixth, leapfrogging Scotland and securing their best position in a year.
Had Australia won by a margin of 15 points or more, they would have climbed to fifth for the first time since the summer of 2022.
Record attempt derailed
South Africa headed into the match knowing that victory in all four of their remaining 2026 Tests would see them surpass the All Blacks' all-time highest rankings total of 96.57 points, set in 2016.
Their series win over New Zealand earlier this month had moved them to a record tally of 95.09 points. With fixtures against Italy, France and Ireland in November, they were projected to overtake that mark. However, a single defeat in those four matches was always enough to derail the attempt, a fact now confirmed by World Rugby.
Full rankings
Ireland and France remain unmoved in third and fourth, while England hold fifth. The latest World Rugby rankings (September 28) are:
- 1. South Africa – 93.09 (-2.00)
- 2. New Zealand – 91.15
- 3. Ireland – 88.08
- 4. France – 87.43
- 5. England – 85.68
- 6. (+1) Australia – 85.55 (+2.00)
- 7. Scotland – 84.78
- 8. Argentina – 82.25
- 9. Japan – 77.28
- 10. Fiji – 76.81
