Rankings
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Re the rankings, they can change pretty quick.
The 6N don't often get completely dominated by one side. That's why Grand Slams and Triple Crowns are still celebrated.
I can see any of the 5 top 6N sides beating the others in the New Year. And Italy beat Aussie ...
So the current rankings could get scrambled again between now and October.
That is not to say WR shouldn't try and do the draw later in the cycle.
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In 2019, the QFs were still:
C1 vs D2
B1 vs A2D1 vs C2
A1 vs B2The winners played in the SFs. SA were only seeded 7th so were in Band 2. Japan beating Ireland, and Wales beating Australia meant those teams ended up switching from the expected QF matchups.
You are right and I am wrong.
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In 2019, the QFs were still:
C1 vs D2
B1 vs A2D1 vs C2
A1 vs B2The winners played in the SFs. SA were only seeded 7th so were in Band 2. Japan beating Ireland, and Wales beating Australia meant those teams ended up switching from the expected QF matchups.
You are right and I am wrong.
Mods - ban him for crimes against the Fern.
Admitting you're wrong cannot be allowed to stand.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in Rankings:
Admitting you're wrong cannot be allowed to stand.
Yeah, you're right.
I see what you did there.
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My quick mental arithmetic seems to suggest the points exchange after last night is somewhere between 0.65 and 0.70.
Meaning SA drops to third on 89.4ish below Ireland on 89.83.
Looks like Aus and Arg stay at 6 and 7 respectively. Not enough points exchanged to affect placings.
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That is the No. 1 world ranking as per the WR formula.
Official 2003-2025.
During covid someone used the formula and reverse calculated it backwards, from 2003 to 1870.
I teased out the No. 1 ranking.
If you add up the days at No. 1; NZ and SA are almost dead-level all-time.
Pretty incredible after 155 years.
Everyone else is a very, very long way behind. -
Long may it continue. Few things saffirs enjoy more than playing against, and (if we’re lucky) alongside, Kiwis. Just ahead of tuning each other fuktup before, during and after an BoksvEvil Test and sharing rugby yarns about each others’ countrymen that you share a mutual loathing because of provincialism. And just behind beating you in World Cup Finals.
And it’s because we respect you all so much that we are going to keep humilificating you senseless until the Cantab mafia is destroyed and the earth around the accursed hellhole known as Christchurch has been salted.
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2010 - 2018 was just incredible. It was exactly the time we should have been slipping right back into the pack with the game going fully professional and our talent being sucked offshore searching for $$, but that period of dominance is basically unparalleled in the history of rugby.
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I don't care about rankings or RWC wins when it comes to the Boks, I just need to know how long before they have an overall winning record against us. Does anyone who is good at maths able to predict that so I know when to drop dead to avoid it?
NZ have won 20 more games in head-to-heads with South Africa, so the Boks are unlikely to take a winning record anytime soon.
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I don't care about rankings or RWC wins when it comes to the Boks, I just need to know how long before they have an overall winning record against us. Does anyone who is good at maths able to predict that so I know when to drop dead to avoid it?
NZ have won 20 more games in head-to-heads with South Africa, so the Boks are unlikely to take a winning record anytime soon.
8 years minimum at an average of 2.5 games per season.
I remember when I started following these sorts of records it was quite strongly in SA's favour.
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OK.
The No. 1 all-time world ranking sorted, I think.
These observations are based strictly on stats compiled using the WR official rankings formula.
So they are “OFFICIAL”
Only 8 nations have ever attained the top ranking.
And only 4 of them have held the overall all-time No 1. Rank.
England and Scotland swapped the all-time ranking back and forth in the early days.
England had a run from 1880 to 1891, but the 1895 split seems to have stuffed the poms.
So Scotland established a margin as No. 1 that lasted a very long time, 1893 to 1946, even tho they didn’t hold a current No. 1 rank after 1905.
In 1946 the late starters finally consigned the Scots to history, South Africa taking over as the No. 1.
South Africa then retained the No. 1 all-time ranking for 71 years, until 2017, when New Zealand finally chased them down.
NZ retained that status until 2021 when the saffers reclaimed it, and they still hold it.
As of September 17th SA are both the current No. 1 and the all-time No. 1.
The total amount of time each nation has been current No. 1 (1871-2025), as of September 17th:
Right now, NZ will have to go on a run of over two years at the top to reclaim all-time status. All other nations are too far behind to have the slightest prospect of ever achieving that.
NOW.
The asterisks!
I’m not putting actual asterisks in, because this is OFFICIAL!
BUT.
Two of SA’s runs as No. 1 happened to coincide with WWI and WWII. No matches were played 1915-19 or 1941-45, 10 years.
For 10 years SA never played a game, while ranked No. 1. No body did. So . . . .
If you knock 10 years off the SA total; today, that would leave NZ 8 years ahead of them (49 years to 41).
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@No-Quarter a period when SA rugby was once again intent on nailing its own dick to the floor. Didn’t help that the financial pressures you mention were even more acute in the SA context.
Not a coincidence that France and Australia were dogshit for most of the decade and England were abysmal until Jones rocked up in 2016.
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@No-Quarter a period when SA rugby was once again intent on nailing its own dick to the floor. Didn’t help that the financial pressures you mention were even more acute in the SA context.
Not a coincidence that France and Australia were dogshit for most of the decade and England were abysmal until Jones rocked up in 2016.
Australia weren't bad in the 2010s. They were invariably the team to trip the ABs up when they were hunting down the consecutive wins record. They were just wildly inconsistent, but still had a big game in them.
