Rankings: Springboks make big jump, All Blacks slip to fourth

On Friday, the Springboks fired a warning shot that reverberated around the rugby world at a mesmerised Twickenham as they inflicted the heaviest defeat on the All Blacks in New Zealand’s storied history, running away 35-7 victors (halftime 14-0) in front of 80 827 fans.

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As a result, South Africa have now shot up to second in the World Rugby rankings, while New Zealand have dropped to fourth, falling behind France who claimed a good win over Australia on Sunday.

In fact, the Springboks are now just 0.74 points behind first-placed Ireland, who scraped a win over Samoa on Saturday.

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South Africa will soon kick off their 2023 World Cup campaign against Scotland on Sunday, 10 September, while the tournament itself will begin on Friday, 8 September with a blockbuster battle between France and New Zealand.

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Make sure you don’t miss a minute of the action, with all the kick-off times falling at mostly favourable times in South Africa.

CHECK OUT THE SPRINGBOKS’ FIXTURES BELOW:

RWC fixtures:
Sunday, 10 September – Springboks v Scotland (Stade Velodrome, Marseille). Kick-off time: 17:45
Sunday, 17 September – Springboks v Romania (Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux). Kick-off time: 15:00
Saturday, 23 September – Springboks v Ireland (Stade de France, Paris). Kick-off time: 21:00
Sunday, 1 October – Boks v Tonga (Stade Velodrome, Marseille). Kick-off time: 21:00

Weekend of 14/15 October – Quarter-finals
Weekend of 21/22 October – Semi-finals
Saturday, 28 October – Final

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You can also check out all the World Cup fixtures and kick-off times here, with South Africa and France notably in the same time zone.

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