World Rugby No 1 ranking on the line in Baltimore

The Springboks and All Blacks will have more than bragging rights at stake when the two rugby giants meet in Baltimore on Saturday, with the World Rugby No 1 ranking also on the line. forestarrow.rest

South Africa currently sit at the summit of the World Rugby rankings with 94.33 rating points, while New Zealand are second on 91.90.

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Permutations

A win by 1 to 15 points by the All Blacks will see them pick up 1.24 points – and see the Springboks lose 1.24 points – which would be enough for New Zealand to regain the No 1 spot, 93.15 to 93.09.

A victory by 16 points or more by the All Blacks will see them pick up 1.86 points – and the Springboks lose an equivalent amount.

That would give New Zealand 93.77 points and South Africa 92.47.

A draw in Baltimore would see South Africa lose 0.24 and New Zealand gain 0.24 points, but wouldn’t be enough for the Springboks to lose their No 1 ranking.

A Springbok win by any margin would see Rassie Erasmus’ side extend their lead over the All Blacks.

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Highly anticipated finale

The rankings battle adds another layer to an already highly anticipated finale to the four-Test Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

South Africa head into the clash at M&T Bank Stadium holding a 2-1 series lead after victories in Cape Town and Johannesburg followed New Zealand’s opening win at Ellis Park.

The Springboks will also be wary of a revamped All Blacks side.

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie has recalled Richie Mo’unga at flyhalf for his first Test appearance in three years, while Codie Taylor takes over as captain following Ardie Savea’s injury. The All Blacks have made several other changes to their forward pack.

What’s at stake?

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi knows exactly what is at stake.

“We don’t want to draw the series,” Kolisi said ahead of the match, with South Africa determined to finish the four-Test battle with a victory.

The Baltimore showdown will also mark the first time the Springboks and All Blacks meet on American soil. M&T Bank Stadium is expecting a major crowd for the historic occasion, with the match forming part of the build-up to the United States hosting the 2031 Rugby World Cup.

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For South Africa, however, the equation is simple: win in Baltimore, lift the series trophy and remain the world’s No 1-ranked team.

For New Zealand, victory would not only level the series but potentially open the door to another change at the summit of world rugby.

The Test kicks off at 23:00 (SA time).

Prediction

South Africa to win by 12 points

Teams

South Africa

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok

New Zealand

15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Josh Moorby, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor (captain), 1 Ethan de Groot

Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Rieko Ioane, 23 Beauden Barrett

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)

Le Paris FC reçoit l’Olympique Lyonnais ce samedi au stade Jean-Bouin, à l’occasion de la 4e journée de Ligue 1. Une affiche importante au classement, mais aussi un nouveau duel entre Liam Rosenior et Paulo Fonseca. Les deux entraîneurs vont en effet se retrouver pour la troisième fois, avec un bilan parfaitement équilibré jusqu’ici.

Une victoire chacun

Au-delà de l’opposition entre les deux équipes, les regards se porteront également sur les deux techniciens. Liam Rosenior et Paulo Fonseca se sont déjà affrontés à deux reprises, lorsque l’Anglais dirigeait encore Strasbourg.

Le premier duel remonte au 28 mars 2025. À la tête du Racing, Rosenior avait pris le dessus sur l’OL de Fonseca à la Meinau. Strasbourg s’était imposé 4-2 au terme d’une rencontre animée.

Quelques mois plus tard, les deux entraîneurs s’étaient retrouvés pour une nouvelle confrontation. Le 26 octobre 2025, cette fois au Groupama Stadium, Paulo Fonseca avait pris sa revanche avec une victoire lyonnaise 2-1, obtenue dans les dernières minutes grâce à Afonso Moreira.

Après ces deux premiers rendez-vous, les deux techniciens comptent donc chacun une victoire. Ce troisième acte leur offre l’occasion de prendre l’avantage dans leur duel direct.

Un duel également important au classement

Cette opposition intervient alors que le Paris FC et l’OL ont réalisé un début de saison encourageant. Avant cette 4e journée, le club parisien occupe la troisième place, tandis que Lyon pointe au quatrième rang.

À Jean-Bouin, les deux formations chercheront donc à poursuivre leur dynamique et à rester au contact des premières places. Pour Rosenior comme pour Fonseca, cette rencontre représente également une nouvelle occasion de prendre l’ascendant sur leur adversaire direct.

Après un succès chacun lors de leurs deux premiers face-à-face, les deux entraîneurs se retrouvent donc pour une troisième manche. Cette fois, l’un d’eux pourrait prendre les commandes de ce duel particulier.

The post Paris FC-OL : le troisième face-à-face entre Rosenior et Fonseca appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.

The Springboks are geared up and ready to face a more experienced and battle-hardened All Blacks team in the finale of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry at the M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, USA on Saturday (kick-off 11:10pm SA time).

With the Boks taking a 2-1 lead into the series decider, the All Blacks have rung the changes for the final game in an effort to draw the series, with eight made to the starting 15 that played in Soweto over the past weekend, with some other changes injury forced.

Although they suffered a major blow in losing talismanic 112-cap skipper Ardie Savea for the finale, they have loaded up with experienced winners in other departments to make up for that loss, and to hopefully give them an edge over the Boks.

Coming in at hooker and as captain is 111-capped Codie Taylor for the 25-capped Asafo Amua, while the 93-capped Anton Lienert-Brown replaces the injured 29-capped Quinn Tupaea in the midfield.

Mo’unga back

Veteran 56-capped flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, who hasn’t played for the All Blacks since the 2023 World Cup final after continuing his club career in Japan over the last three years, is back and replaces the 10-capped Ruben Love.

On the bench the All Blacks have also brought in the 144-capped Beauden Barrett and 88-capped Rieko Ioane, who they will be able to call upon at any stage of the match.

Speaking on Friday ahead of the match, Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick admitted that they were expecting an extremely tough challenge from the All Blacks, especially with the inclusion of Mo’unga and other experienced players across their side.

“We know Richie Mo’unga is world-class. As the coaching staff, we expected that selection. Even Ruben Love, the way he’s been playing as an upcoming star, he’s been great for the All Blacks,” said Stick.

“They will be even more bold tomorrow when it comes to keeping the ball alive and trying to use the space in the wider channels, and we know how dangerous he (Mo’unga) is. We’ve played against him many times, and we’ve done our homework.

“The key thing for us is that we enforce our game onto them and ensure that we pitch up physically on the day. We’ve seen in the past three games that if you’re not at your best, they’ve got what it takes to punish you because of the quality of players in their team.

“If you look at the outside centre position, they have a guy like Anton Leinert-Brown with his experience. It is a world-class team, we know they’re desperate to level the series, but in the same breath we want to make sure that we keep on making our people back at home proud, so we’ll give our best.”

Strong finish

With this the first traditional Test series between the two nations since 1996, Stick said that their was no tougher Test, other than the business end of a World Cup campaign, and added that the Boks just hoped to finish off strong.

“In my experience, it doesn’t get tougher than this. It’s like playing four World Cup finals in four weeks,” claimed Stick.

“We’ve seen how close the games we’ve played so far have been. Both teams are trying to enforce their style of play. You can see the All Blacks don’t play hide and seek in terms of how they want to play. That’s something I enjoy.

“We might be leading (the series) 2-1, but we know on the flipside they are desperate to level it. We just want to ensure we finish properly.”