While the top 15 teams in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings remain in the same order, the teams below have been given a major shake-up after the fourth round of the World Rugby Nations Cup.
While the top 15 teams in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings remain in the same order, the teams below have been given a major shake-up after the fourth round of the World Rugby Nations Cup 2026.
Spain have moved up to 16th after a tense 18-12 home win over Uruguay, and Tonga now sit 17th, having climbed two places as a result of their 43-38 win over Romania in Bucharest in the opening match of the weekend.
For the Oaks, the defeat cost them two places, with 23rd being their lowest-ever ranking.
Samoa went into the weekend in danger of dropping out of the world’s top 20 for the first time, but a convincing 43-7 win over Zimbabwe – in the first-ever rugby union international to be played in Wakefield, England – has lifted them up one place to 19th.
Georgia, Portugal and USA remain the three highest-ranked teams involved in the Nations Cup, and they solidified their positions in 13th, 14th and 15th with wins over Canada, Chile and Hong Kong China, although the soon-to-be Men’s Rugby World Cup debutants pushed the Men’s Eagles all the way in losing 28-26.
While Chile fell a couple of places to 18th, Canada improved their position as their rating wasn’t affected by the loss to Georgia and it is now higher than Romania’s.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s advantage over New Zealand at the top of the rankings has been cut to 0.44 points because the Springboks didn’t receive any points for their 66-7 win over Italy due to the 14.79 points difference between the teams, whereas the All Blacks gained 0.38 points for maintaining their unbeaten record against Scotland with a 43-21 win.
Out of all the top 10 nations, Wales’ rating increased the most – by 0.99 points, thanks to a 28-21 win over Japan in Cardiff.
The biggest climbers of the week, though, were Malta as they jumped three places to 39th after beating Germany 37-31 in the 2026-27 Rugby Europe Men’s Trophy, securing a return to the top 40 for the first time since May 2022. They are now only two places behind Germany following their three-place drop.
