France, victorious over Japan 20-15 on Saturday in Tokyo, will become the world’s leading rugby nation on Monday for the first time since the introduction of the ranking in 2003, according to projections by World Rugby, the governing body of world rugby.
The men of Fabien Galthié, undefeated this season with ten straight wins, also a first in the history of the XV of France, will now be ahead of South Africa, the previous world No.1, beaten by Wales on the wire (13-12). If the world champion Springboks had won, they would have remained at the top of the world rankings, but their defeat, combined with the Blues’ second victory in Japan and an All Blacks loss of less than 15 points against Ireland ( 23-12) 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 back off thus from second to fourth place, their worst place since the establishment of the world ranking.