World Rugby Rankings - July Rugby Tests Week 2 2024 

Yeah we tend to look at the most recent game aye, but it's very much a cumulative thing

Still makes very little sense hence why the rankings don’t really matter WCs do.

@@dreammaker9642 They matter for World Cup seedings.

@@johnmc3862 doesn’t really matter if you want to claim to be the best on the world be ready to face any pool arrangement, if you need the stars to aligne and everything to work out for you then you going to wait a while but if you figure a way to over come it then you deserve to be the best cause you mixed a bit of luck cause you’ll always need somethings out of your control to work out or more the fact you need more things to work out than go wrong. By that I mean injuries and recovery time. SA had some sht luck but they capitalised every time they got a break and that made the difference. It could have gone a lot of different ways but they managed to make it go their way. Whether you send your pulls by rankings or purely random draw or any way you want it has no real affect on the outcome being what there is best. Even if you are weaker than your opponents but all the stars aligned for you then you still deserved to be the best because fact of the matter is you somehow got there against the odds. Statistically it will happen but if you bank on that you risk not living long enough to see it happen.

Yeah man Italy getting the results on the back on some good age group teams in recent years aye - great to see

Wales outside the top 10 too 🤔

Italy are still pretty poor IMO. Its just that Australia have become a tier 2 nation in those 10 years.

Great to see Fiji in the Top 10 and Georgia getting closer to the Top 10

Bizzare scoring system but as commented on here, it's an indication of consistency, I think SA got double points for winning the WC, not exactly sure how many that was, but it's evened out again now apart from France being a bit behind.

I agree, but leave it solely with Andy Farrell as "King Coach", so astute, softly spoken, but switched on, a PAL of competiveness, a motivator & ruruthless

One of the best. He was handed a team by Joe Schmitt that was immense and makes up the core of the current group. You can't argue what Farrell has continued on but, great rugby side!

an Englishman told me it was a punt rather than a drop goal... i'm too ambivalent to check it out for myself.

They were not nothing😮​@@WhatTheFunK.

@@WhatTheFunK. an Englishman who's family roots are Irish.

When they joined the URC I was so glad. I really thought that it was the right time. There was a risk that the URC was becoming too predictable. The Irish Provinces dominating and Leinster (or maybe Munster) winning all of the time. That was not going to be good for any of the clubs involved. They have made the predictability of the winners un-certain. Now Glasgow was a surprise this time round that nobody saw coming, but I think that SA clubs have injected a bit of spice into the competition. I think that the URC has a great future and this new found rivalry between South Africa and Ireland at International level will only add to that at club level. I think that the Irish Clubs and the South African clubs can learn and benefit from playing each other regularly and this will feed into the International games. I fear that the ABs are going to lose out with the absence of playing SA clubs regularly and of course no longer having a strong Rugby Union nation next door to keep them on their toes. Thanks Eddie.

Saffas definitely have made the URC much better, It's way more competitive. If they consider us rivals, I take that as a compliment. When I was growing up, we were struggling to compete in the 5/6 nations, and often were serial wooden spoon winners, never mind competing against South Africa or New Zealand.

Wallabies should be behind ABS haven't lost a game the rest lost one each bad calculation

Wallabies are KAK​@@kitdyer8968

Same thing happened when SA teams were in the Super rugby tournament, New zealand & Australia picked up their game loads.

When you look at WC results not really

its weird france are better than newzealand but newzealand is better than ireland but ireland is better than sa but sa is better than france based on previous result it seems like a 4 way tie but ire and sa beat all those teams so they are more consistent and england lost to all them they beat a weakened ireland

Apart from the fact England haven't beatwn Scotland in a good while

If it worked well during WC cycles it would reflect more the outcome and yet here we are but this is why they don’t matter much. Ireland getting two points from such a narrow win doesn’t really make sense. Rankings serve more of a ego boost but then come the real deal during WCs then the real performances come to light. SA and the AB are so do,infant because they put it out there and hold higher standards while teams like Ireland although having good runs don’t hold up the standards. Take this WC they beat SA and behaved as if that was job done and the result is yet another choked QF meanwhile SA scrapped all the way and at only released the pressure in the semi but caught their mistake before it was too late after beating france. England to their credit had a good crack at it but even then couldn’t hold up.

That's what happens when you win a world cup. It's an achievement that deserves points.

Totally agree. 👍

Definitely! They should be playing the stronger tier 2 nations (like Fiji and Samoa) and the weaker tier 1 nations (Japan, Italy) on a more regular basis.

Definitely agree. Georgia needs to be getting stronger opposition. I'd like to see them competing at tier 1 in Europe one day. And Georgia is a gorgeous place with great people. We were there a couple of years ago, and this year we will traveling through the Turkish border and head to Svaneti for a week of relaxation ! Australia, another fantastic place, did some amazing backpacking there in my younger days !

I have to say as a irishman Georgia are getting there there under 20s are class us irish got a shock 😊😊😊

​@@Irish780georgia u20s always been good though probs better than ireland in recent times

@subbie5498 well Ireland did get to they final last year against france I don't see them being better

Well if you call winning twice and missing out on a 3rd by one point out of the 5 W.C in the last 20yrs "flopping" then I guess your right but I don't think that fits the true definition

@@stevegates2228 i'm referecing the drought from 1987 till 2011 obviously

As an Ireland fan I wouldn't mind flopping like the All Blacks in the world cups

Another good demonstration that very few people can read.

Unfortunately they seem to never beat NZ when it matters most.

@@nolo_the2nd beat them in Wellington to win the series in 22. That definitely mattered.

@@ColinGrealy World Cup knockout stages?

@@nolo_the2nd obviously, we lost the last two QFs to NZ. But saying Ireland “never” beat them when it matters most is clearly untrue. I live in NZ, that tour definitely mattered.

@@ColinGrealy The original post was referring to Ireland winning the WC. So I'm saying that they can never seem to get past NZ in that respect. In that aspect they never have overcome that hurdle

Don’t stir it up any more than it is 😂

Dumbest comment here. Congrats!

@@eamonnbarry6530 it's all good fun ...iv been to sa iv lots of friend's from there and that live there....the urc has added to to the fun and rivalry... anyone who takes it personally is an idiot.

not this year though

They don't have the best player in the world atm, it's made a big difference.

I think you could add France to that group. A lot of people would say that England shouldn't be in that group but under Borthwicks sensible and realistic management I think that they have to be there. That simpleton Jones has moved on so England are slowly recovering from the damage he did.

I kinda disagree, Ireland and South Africa, are still on fire and new Zealand is brilliant some moments then very poor at other, they need more games/ practice before challenging the other two. I agree with France they are very inconsistent at the moment much like new Zealand but they should get better with time. Scotland is a stronger side than England.

@@SMacCuUladh I feel like the French team has become too dependent on Dupont. Without him leading they are significantly weaker, which I didn’t think was going to be the case until I saw France at the 6 Nations. They very nearly lost to Italy, which would never have happened had Dupont been there. They arguably should have lost that game if the whole Garbisi penalty situation hadn’t played out the way it did

England and France (80 + points each) are not in the same league as the top 3 (90 + points each). England getting heaps of praise right now for "almost" winning matches. Turning a corner is not the same as a transformation. Needs some wins to gain bragging rights.

Chile and Uruguay already have teams in Super Rugby Americas

Joe will get you back ..

I'm really hoping for a Australian v Ireland soon be classic guess lions next

I don't think it's that people don't understand them. Most fans have a selective bias. Some have it worse than others. There will always be surprise results or teams being understrength that we might dismiss where the algorithm doesn't. But we should not be SO sure that the surprise result is as much of a surprise or the need for players to rest or recover from injury means that perhaps consistency is a factor in a team's ranking

They had WC wins (worth 1.5 times more) against France, NZ, England and Scotland and were lower rated at the time. And they followed the WC by a win against Ireland last week.

⁠@@paulbarbat1926 exactly. I don’t understand why people downplay SA’s RWC win as every team we played against except Tonga and Romania were in the top 5 in the world at the time we played them. Doing that and winning a World Cup as a result of those fixtures should really give a team a good gap in points following it

Also remember Ireland lost to ABs in semi of RWC. Then they lost to England and the 1st test v the Boks. One win in the second test v Boks doesnt reverse the fact

@@MrChenjinyuan semis? It was the quarterfinal lol

@@ukuthulakhumalo6288 not disputing that at all. That was last year. Since then who have SA beaten to keep the points? How come Ireland barely moved even with a bunch of wins? Just curious is all. Not trying to dismiss SA. It’s the points system I’m questioning. Can a team never play again and just stay #1 - I assume not. SA 8 months no wins they stay where they are. Ire 8 months and a bunch of wins and they stayed where they were. Why?

I'm Irish I love welsh but garland wants u hate us be careful of him he is not from here

ABs two games in SA very spicy looking!

Only if NZ beat SA by more than 15 points.

@@DeusExMamiya No that is not true, both games in South Africa, Two wins would put ABs #1. Regardless of score

And Boks to 4.. ARG NZ and Aus are going to hammer the Boks

@natedawg, nope, Ireland will most likely move to first if/when SA drop a game or two.

sa might drop below nz

Yeah TRC gonna be fascinating!

Based on Saffa fans online and the players' reaction at the final whistle, they certainly do care.

​@@helenaville5939 I think they hate losing, but don't care much about rankings.

As an Irish fan, I think the world rankings are skewed in favour of the northern hemisphere. I don't care what ranking we are, I just want us to win a world cup. (We probably need one world cup to get out of quarter finals, then we can talk about winning a future one).

@@lukeytron Explain how they are skewed in favour of the NH sides. I ask because it doesn't make sense and the rules apply to every team equally.

The AB's will beat this SA team no matter where they play them. They are so much better than the Boks at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if its NZ, Aus and then the Boks in this years Rugby Championship. Joe is too clever for Rassie.

​@creekyknee Oh boy... You're lost mate. Say you don't watch rugby without saying you don't watch rugby. Not saying that the ABs can't beat this SA team, but your statement is a bit far-fetched. Literally everything you said there dude.

​@@creekyknee haha that's my exact finishing order. Now just have to get a couple saffas I know to lay me odds

@@creekyknee LOL, NZ barely won against Eng on home soil. I think Ire and SA are much better than NZ atm.

@@creekyknee lol Aus

I disagree England are very good they stopped a Ireland grandson so kudos to them I'm Irish but yes if they play Ireland now they lose badly but that's rugby my friend can't be sure

@@Irish780 They did, but Ireland weren't on song though I suppose that could be debated. However one swallow doesn't make a summer and England have no consistency. They're not getting the wins when it counts. They'll be in Dublin in the 2025 so we'll see what happens 🇮🇪😉

@martinmcdonald4207 The top 3 maybe, England would lose 7-8 times out of 10 to the top 3 and France on current form would also.

are they better than scotland and argentina though?

@@johnnoonan4799 ff sake.

@@johnmc3862 Not trolling when you speak truth john mc.. why don't you give your full name after mc or is it you that don't like your identity known for trolling. Jesus Christ is the saviour. Anyone no matter how nicely nice they are that uses his kids for gain is a bad person end of.

You tell them big boy!

@@CptRumcan just pointing out facts

@@jonnybyrne989 put it on a t-shirt!

God forbid, I hope SA would never be considered for an expanded 6N. International rugby, and especially NZ, need them to stay in the Rugby Championship. If we go the 8N route, let's just add another European country instead.

@@TheDonCursino Well that would go against the URC format. Actually tournaments based on time zones. Travelling to Oceania and South America is hard for the SA guys

@@thephantomstranger4073 Yeah true, but I'd be ok with that. I like the idea that the 2 main international competitions outside of RWC keep their territoriality and tradition/rivalry since to me that's what it makes them so special and interesting. Otherwise everything would be diluted and indistinct between the new incoming tests format, the 6N/RC and the RWC. (I agree that the RC is quite tough on players. But I can't imagine this competition without NZ facing SA every year though...)

I dunno, clearly between SA and Ire it's pretty 50/50 depending on the day. NZ with whole new coaching staff and barely winning against England on home ground. Remains to be seen where they are at when they come to SA.

Yeah Samoa at home though would be at +3, so on 76 which is more than 10 past Spain's 64, so no points sadly

It takes into account the home advantage. Also the points gained is reflective of the gap between the teams. SA had more points than Ire so they gained nothing by beating them - plus at home.

I don't think your opinion outweighs would rugby's ranking system

I'm Irish I agree 💯 but I believe we will what do u think

Yeah I guess Australia must be no 1.

@@Camcolito 😆 I think they world has moved on

Australia’s young islanders need to stop getting white line fever. I know they’re young but pass the ball for a sure try boys.

you do realize in boxing thats cos the champ doesn't lose lol? otherwise they're no longer the champ. you can't just win every 4 years and be champ forever while losing inbetween

Ok but that means you need to put your championship on the line every game.

Doesn’t make sense when they only play world championships only once in 4 years.

@@Camcolito aren't there some fights where the belt is not on the line?

@@Mo-yd8xc Very few. Certainly not for 4 years.

So winning a Six Nations means nothing in your book?

Believe or not northern hemisphere teams play matches against each other.

@@Patricu look at the teams in the 6 nations. England, abs just beat them, and they got a game off of you. France are good. But italy? abs put 100 on them. Scotland? Wales? absolute garbage. Aside from France they are guaranteed wins. Not to mentioned its all played and scored when the other hemisphere isnt even playing to get points lol. It basically puts you into the top whilst all others arent even competing

I would say there is a lot you don't understand.

@@doomedrpgproject4473 im just saying very few matches are of note. No nh team was in the rwc final

I still need to edit a new one up 😅

you barely beat England

Stupid comment. The same rule and formula applies to everyone.

RWC matches get double points and SA are pretty good at world cups aye 😅

Not remotely “silly”. Take a few minutes to study the rugby rankings algorithm, published online. It’s very well tuned.

@@TwoCentsRugby Not against Ireland they`re not. RWC matches shouldn`t count double. Beating SA in SA should count double.

@@stevenfennell7020 lol why?

Does it matter?

@@columkenn its as cool as:) I reckon its great:)

Functionality at its finest 😅

I think that the no 1 spot should be shared between Ireland and the ABs at the moment. France 2 and then the Boks. With England and the Aussies challenging the Boks for that coveted 4th position.

@@creekyknee Lad, as an Irishman, don't make me defend SA. Give them some credit. They are the World Champions.

@@barryb90 Ah Barry, they won the last one because England knocked out the ABs and they won this one because the Abs knocked out Ireland. They were lucky, simple as. Do you really think that they would come within 10 points of us if we played them in the Aviva next month ? Ireland would hammer them as we have done in the last 4 out of the 5 games that we have played against them. France would stuff them in Paris and even Wales would fancy their chances against them in Cardiff. Fair enough they might beat Italy and Scotland at home, but who doesn't ?

​@@creekykneeDelusional.

​@@creekyknee they beat Wales by like 30 points, recently, at Twickenham. So you seem to just be a hater