The World Rugby Rankings have taken on added significance this yr given their position in devising the seedings for the Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw, which may be watched dwell from Sydney on RugbyPass TV this Wednesday (09:00 GMT).
Take England, for instance. They began the yr on the again foot, mendacity in seventh after an underwhelming set of leads to 2024, and outdoors of the highest band and going through a harder RWC 2027 pool except issues improved.
And enhance they did. Steve Borthwick’s facet are presently on an 11-match profitable run, relationship again to the very first recreation of the yr, a 27-22 defeat to Ireland in Dublin, and have surged as much as third on the earth, securing their place within the prime band of seeds because of this.
Whereas Chile have matched England’s four-place stand up the rankings in 2025, going from twenty first initially of the yr to an all-time excessive of seventeenth, not one of the groups who’ve certified for RWC 2027 have added as many factors to their ranking as England.
England kicked off the yr with a ranking of 82.31 factors and that has soared to 89.41 – a rise of seven.1 factors. Chile’ ranking went up by precisely 5 factors to 66.72, which was sufficient for them to climb into band three for his or her second Rugby World Cup.
Like Chile, 14th-ranked Uruguay are presently at their highest-ever place, having gained three locations, whereas fast-improving Spain have moved from 18th to fifteenth, after beneficial properties of two.13 and three.03 factors, respectively.
On the flipside, Samoa began 2025 ranked 14th and with designs on a spot in band two. Nonetheless, a winless Asahi Tremendous Dry Pacific Nations Cup marketing campaign and a collection of RWC qualifier failures led to the Pacific Islanders falling 5 locations to a document low of nineteenth, placing them in band 4 for Wednesday’s draw.
The spectacular lack of 6.25 factors from their ranking is unmatched by any crew on the earth’s prime 25. Portugal, nevertheless, have retreated alarmingly, with the euphoria of their profitable RWC 2023 marketing campaign properly and actually extinguished.
Os Lobos needed to accept a disappointing fourth place within the Rugby Europe Males’s Championship and have continued to wrestle since, resulting in a four-place fall to twentieth and the lack of 3.84 factors.
Greater up, Eire and France had been the one groups in band one to lose each locations and factors. Having entered the yr second solely to South Africa, Eire are right down to fourth with 2.81 factors knocked off their ranking, which now stands at 87.97 factors. Six Nations Grand Slam winners France have fallen to fifth with a revised ranking of 87.24 factors.
World Rankings modifications – Jan 1, 2025 to now
| POSN | TEAM | START | END | DIFF |
| 1 (-) | S AFRICA | 92.78 | 93.94 | +1.16 |
| 2 (+1) | N ZEALAND | 90.33 | 90.36 | +0.03 |
| 3 (+4) | ENGLAND | 82.31 | 89.41 | +7.1 |
| 4 (-2) | IRELAND | 90.78 | 87.97 | -2.81 |
| 5 (-1) | FRANCE | 88.51 | 87.24 | -1.27 |
| 6 (-1) | ARGENTINA | 84.97 | 84.97 | 0 |
| 7 (+1) | AUSTRALIA | 81.52 | 81.53 | +0.01 |
| 8 (+1) | FIJI | 80.07 | 81.14 | +1.07 |
| 9 (-3) | SCOTLAND | 83.34 | 80.22 | -3.12 |
| 10 (-) | ITALY | 78.64 | 78.98 | +0.34 |
| 11 (-) | WALES | 74.01 | 74.23 | +0.22 |
| 12 (+1) | JAPAN | 72.95 | 74.09 | +1.14 |
| 13 (-1) | GEORGIA | 73.85 | 73.18 | -0.67 |
| 14 (+3) | URUGUAY | 67.06 | 69.19 | +2.13 |
| 15 (+3) | SPAIN | 65.98 | 69.01 | +3.03 |
| 16 (-1) | USA | 70.02 | 68.26 | -1.76 |
| 17 (+4) | CHILE | 61.72 | 66.72 | +5.00 |
| 18 (+1) | TONGA | 65.46 | 66.66 | +1.20 |
| 19 (-5) | SAMOA | 72.68 | 66.43 | -6.25 |
| 20 (-4) | PORTUGAL | 68.82 | 64.98 | -3.84 |
| 21 (+7) | BELGIUM | 56.51 | 62.32 | +5.81 |
| 22 (-2) | ROMANIA | 63.01 | 61.5 | -1.51 |
| 23 (-1) | HK CHINA | 59.49 | 59.61 | +0.12 |
| 24 +2) | ZIMBABWE | 57.16 | 58.8 | +1.64 |
| 25 (-2) | CANADA | 59.18 | 58.76 | -0.42 |
