Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has made seven changes to his matchday 23 for the second clash against the All Blacks and it’s not only the Rugby Championship that’s on the line.

A defeat of any kind will see the Springboks surrender top spot in the rankings but it could get even worse for South Africa if the loss to New Zealand is a significant one.

Meanwhile, Australia also have an opportunity to improve their world rankings with a victory over Argentina in Sante Fe.

We run through the weekend’s World Rugby rankings permutations.

Springboks put top spot on the line

As was the case in round three of the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks have the opportunity to knock the Springboks off of the summit of the World Rugby rankings.

A loss of any kind will see South Africa drop from top spot with an All Blacks victory of 15 points or less seeing the Boks fall to second with Ireland claiming the top spot.

If New Zealand secure a win of more than 15 points, they will move into second place with South Africa tumbling down to third.

In the event that the Springboks defeat New Zealand by 15 points or less their cushion at the top over Ireland will increase to 1.46 points and if the is by a greater margin they will have a 1.56 points lead.

South Africa also have the opportunity to become the first time other than New Zealand to win a full Rugby Championship – outside of a Rugby World Cup year – since Argentina joined the competition in 2012. The Boks won the truncated competition in 2019 and Australia did the same in 2015.

For Erasmus’ charges to do so, they require a bonus point victory over New Zealand or deny the All Blacks any losing or try bonus points which would need to be paired with an Argentina defeat.

Scott Robertson’s men cannot move higher than second place – a victory over 15 points needed to reach that ranking – while New Zealand cannot fall below their current ranking of third.

In the other Rugby Championship encounter, Argentina are unable to reclaim the sixth place they lost to Scotland after falling to a defeat to Australia last weekend. Even if Felipe Contepomi’s side claims a victory of more than 15 points in Santa Fe, they would still trail Scotland by 0.33 rating points.

That margin of victory for Los Pumas would have an impact on Australia’s ranking, however, as Joe Schmidt’s men will fall back to ninth place behind Italy.

However, the Wallabies can move ahead of Argentina in the rankings if they defeat Los Pumas and a win by more than 15 points would leave Australia just 0.04 points behind Scotland in sixth.

A loss by this margin would result in Argentina falling another place with Italy being the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, Fiji’s win over Tonga did not impact their world ranking while a win regardless of the margin for Japan over USA would earn them a maximum of 0.17 points but would not result in a climb in the rankings.

USA will climb three places to 16th if they can beat the Brave Blossoms – they have not been ranked as high since November 2021.

Eddie Jones’ side will drop a place and be replaced in 15th by Portugal if they lose to the Men’s Eagles – a defeat by more than 15 points would leave Japan sitting a mere 0.21 points above the USA.

World Rankings as of 6/09/2024

1 South Africa 93.37
2 Ireland 92.12
3 New Zealand 88.45
4 France 86.96
5 England 85.4
6 Argentina 83.30
7 Scotland 82.82
8 Australia 80.70
9 Italy 79.98
10 Fiji 78.43
11 Wales 76.04
12 Georgia 74.10
13 Samoa 73.54
14 Japan 72.12
15 Portugal 70.61
16 Tonga 67.78
17 Uruguay 67.39
18 Spain 66.29
19 USA 66.25
20 Romania 62.62