Boks` top spot on the line

Thursday 03rd July 2008 | www.planet-rugby.com

New Zealand and South Africa will be playing for more than Tri-Nations points when they meet in Wellington on Saturday - the winners will also secure top spot on the IRB World Rankings.

The Springboks currently head the rankings, just 1.02 rating points clear of the All Blacks, meaning that a win for the hosts at Westpac Stadium in the first of back-to-back encounters will see the teams swap places.

The All Blacks have moved to within striking distance thanks to their series victory over England last month. Even a one-point victory on New Zealand soil will see Graham Henry's side return to top spot, but a win by 15 points or more could give New Zealand an advantage of over one rating point to defend when the sides meet again in Dunedin on July 12.

However, if the world champions manage to score their first win in New Zealand in ten years, they would strengthen their position as the number one side and possibly quadruple their advantage, depending on the winning margin.

New Zealand would remain second even with a loss by 15 points or more in Wellington, although their cushion over the other Tri-Nations side, Australia, could reduce to around three points if the Wallabies once again prove too strong for France in Brisbane on Saturday.

Australia's 34-13 victory over les Bleus in Sydney last weekend saw the Wallabies swap places with Argentina who slumped to a disappointing loss to Italy.

If France cause a major upset at Suncorp Stadium and claim their first win Down Under in eighteen years, they could climb one to sixth at Wales' expense with the Wallabies falling two spots below Argentina and England. A heavy loss, though, and Australia could slip to their lowest ever ranking of sixth.

There is one other top ten change at stake when Fiji head to Nuku'alofa to face Tonga in the final round of the IRB Pacific Nations Cup 2008.

Apart from playing for third place in the tournament Fiji have the added incentive this time of knowing that victory should lift them two places to eighth in the rankings and above both Ireland and Scotland. A loss however would see Fiji fall one to 11th and outside the top 10 for the first time since the 2007 World Cup.

A first PNC victory in 2008 for Tonga though could see them return to 13th, regaining the two places they lost after losing 20-15 to Samoa last weekend.

The match between Samoa and Japan in Apia is unlikely to see Samoa move from 12th spot regardless of the result, however a Japanese victory would be significant for John Kirwan's side.

After convincingly beating Tonga in Round two and leading the NZ Maori at half-time last weekend, the Japanese will be eager to claim another scalp which could see them climb one or two places to a potential new high of 14, depending on the result.

IRB Rankings on July 3

1 SOUTH AFRICA 90.81
2 NEW ZEALAND 89.79
3 AUSTRALIA 84.56
4 ARGENTINA 83.42
5 ENGLAND 83.16
6 WALES 80.12
7 FRANCE 79.24
8 IRELAND 77.18
9 SCOTLAND 76.92
10 FIJI 76.77
11 ITALY 75.57
12 SAMOA 72.35
13 GEORGIA 69.43
14 CANADA 68.81
15 TONGA 68.52
16 JAPAN 67.57
17 ROMANIA 67.20
18 RUSSIA 63.94
19 URUGUAY 63.69
20 USA 63.11