12/11/2024

World Rugby rankings permutations for this weekend’s men’s international rugby

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the Japan v New Zealand match and the latest round of action in the Rugby Europe Men’s Trophy and Conference 2024-25 this weekend

Permutation highlights

New Zealand cannot improve their rating with victory in Japan on the first match of their end-of-year tour as a result of the 16.39 points difference between the teams before home weighting is factored in.

However, a first-ever defeat to Japan would result in the All Blacks swapping places with France and dropping down to fourth.

Japan will climb above Samoa and Georgia into 12th place with such an historic victory.

Sweden can climb to a new high of 31st – swapping places with Germany – if they begin their Rugby Europe Men’s Trophy 2024-25 campaign by beating Czechia by more than 15 points.

Czechia are guaranteed to remain 34th by such a defeat but would see their advantage over Poland below cut to just 0.13 rating points.

A narrow win for Czechia would result in the sides swapping places with 32nd the highest they have been ranked since September 2018.

A win by more than 15 points would see Czechia rise another spot and Sweden drop to 35th.

The weekend’s other Trophy match between Lithuania and Luxembourg is another encounter between teams closely matched in the rankings with the home side having a three-place advantage, which they could increase in victory.

A win for Lithuania would lift them above the Cook Islands and into 49th, while condemning Luxembourg, who are currently at their highest-ever position, would fall two places to 55th.

Luxembourg will break into the world’s top 50 for the first time and could climb as high as 46th with a win by more than 15 points. Lithuania would slide to 57th in that scenario.

Norway are currently at their lowest position having endured a long losing run, but victory over Latvia in the Rugby Europe Men’s Conference 2024-25 would see them claw back at least two places to 104th.

Latvia will fall at least five places in defeat and are unable to improve on 58th in victory as a result of the 18.19 rating points and 48 places between the teams before home weighting is factored in.

The weekend’s other Conference match, between Slovakia and Hungary, will not count towards the rankings as the hosts are not a full member union of World Rugby and therefore not ranked.\

Story: World Rugby

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