The Springboks need to pick up a win over the Wallabies to help them move back up the world rankings, with a World Cup draw at the end of the year.
Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick admitted that the world rugby rankings are of vital importance for the team, especially with a World Cup draw coming up at the end of the year.
The Boks’ shock loss to the Wallabies over the past weekend saw them drop from the top of the rankings to third, as they lost a large number of points due to how far below them Australia are ranked (sixth).
It is thus extremely important that they respond with a win this weekend, and although they won’t gain as many points as they lost, they will at least not lose ground on the table topping All Blacks and will rise above currently second placed Ireland.
Ranking importance
Although not taken massively seriously, the world rankings do take on a lot of importance ahead of a World Cup draw, as the better placed a team are, the easier their draw will be for the showpiece event.
The Boks will thus want to finish as high as possible, ideally top, by the end of this year to give them a good draw for the tournament in Australia in 2027.
“That is something that we are thinking about, and we spoke about it before the season started. We know that there is a World Cup draw at the end of the year. That is something that is in our heads and we make sure that the players understand that very well,” explained Stick.
“We know that every game counts going forward, so it is important for us to make sure that we bounce back and get back on a winning streak.
“But aside from the world rankings we have a lot of pride in performing well for the people of our country. So the key thing is for us to get back to winning ways to make our people proud.
The world rankings follow a complicated system to determine points, based on a team’s position on the rankings, which is why the Boks were able to drop two places despite having been on an eight game (seven official Tests) winning streak before the Aussie loss at Ellis Park.
Heavily penalised
You are thus penalised heavily for defeats against teams well below you, but then gain barely, if any, points for a win against those same teams.
Due to this, it is important for the Boks not to slip up again against the Wallabies in the second Rugby Championship Test in Cape Town on Saturday, so that they can gain a few points and hopefully go on another winning streak to help them climb back up the rankings.
“We were disappointed (with our performance at Ellis Park), and we have set high standards for ourselves, which we didn’t reach (in the first Test). We are also still building and evolving our game,” said Stick.
“To not start (the Rugby Championship) well in front of our home crowd was not nice. But it’s part of the game, these things do happen and what I like about how the (past) week went is that we understand what we need to do well and where things went wrong.
“We also know the difference between the teams we played in the July series (Italy and Georgia), where we could have a bad game and still win, and in the Rugby Championship against Australia who have world class players.
“You saw the errors that we made and how they capitalised on that. That’s the standard of the Rugby Championship and we respect that. Hopefully we can get back to winning ways this weekend, but we know its going to be a tough game.”
