After the victory of the XV of France against Japan (20-15), Saturday, and the defeats of New Zealand and South Africa, the Blues will settle, Monday, at the top of the classification.
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Big blue sky above the XV of France. Fabien Galthié’s men, undefeated this season with ten victories in a row – including the last on Saturday July 9 against Japan (20-15) – will take the lead in the world rankings, a first since the establishment of the classification in 2003. The Blues ascend the throne occupied until then by South Africa, beaten on the wire by Wales (12-13).
The Springboks, the reigning world champions, needed success to stay top of the table, but their defeat, combined with the Blues’ second victory in Japan and an All Blacks loss of less than 15 points against the Ireland (12-23) allows the French to get ahead of them in the next ranking which will be published on Monday.
South Africa will even drop to third place in the standings, overtaken by Ireland, who signed a historic success in New Zealand against the All Blacks on Saturday in Dunedin. The New Zealanders, for their part, fell from second to fourth place, their worst place since the establishment of the world rankings.