Rugby News

The

Scotland will be without Jamie Ritchie and Tom Jordan for their final summer tour fixture against Samoa due to injury.

Australia will enter the opening match of their three-Test series against the British and Irish Lions ranked sixth in the world, two spots higher than last week, despite not playing over the weekend. Defeats for Argentina and Scotland negatively impacted their rankings, causing them to slip below the Wallabies to seventh and eighth places, respectively. Australia now sit on 82.08 points, narrowly ahead of Argentina, whose rating dropped to 82.05 after suffering a second consecutive defeat to England. Scotland’s score fell to 81.37 following their 29-14 loss to Fiji. This marks Australia’s highest world ranking since January 2023. At the top of the table, South Africa’s lead over New Zealand has narrowed to just 1.06 points. The Springboks remain on 92.78 points after defeating Italy for a second straight week, while the All Blacks gained 0.74 points to reach 91.72. Ireland remain in third place despite their record-breaking 106-7 win over Italy, which didn’t affect their score. France are fourth, and England sit fifth, with just 0.52 points now separating the two. Fiji stay in ninth position, but are now within a point of Scotland. Italy round out the top 10. Elsewhere, Wales snapped their 18-match Test losing streak with a 31-22 win over Japan. That result leveled the series 1-1 in Tokyo and saw Wales swap places with Japan again — moving up to 12th and pushing the Brave Blossoms down to 14th. Spain celebrated their first-ever victory over the USA, moving ahead of the Eagles into 15th place. Belgium also had reason to celebrate after a 25-18 victory over Canada lifted them above Hong Kong China and into 22nd — just one spot shy of their all-time best. In the Rugby Africa Cup, former Rugby World Cup participants Ivory Coast dropped to an all-time low of 64th following a 28-3 loss to Senegal. Other matches also influenced the rankings, notably Uganda's unexpected defeat to Morocco, which caused a drop for the tournament hosts. Meanwhile, finalists Namibia and reigning champions Zimbabwe held steady in 25th and 26th places, respectively.

First Test: Argentina v England

Maori All Blacks: (12) 26

Summer tour first Test: Japan v Wales

New South Wales Waratahs (5) 10

British and Irish Lions captain Tadhg Beirne said the side were again limited by "too many errors and turnovers" in their stuttering 21-10 win over the New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney.