Boks' big drop confirmed
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:38
How long will this slump continue? (c) Gallo
South Africa have slumped to their lowest ranking on the International Rugby Board standings since Peter de Villiers took charge of the team in January 2008.
Kurtley Beale's penalty with the last kick of the game not only secured a dramatic 41-39 victory over South Africa in Bloemfontein, but also saw Australia climb above their hosts into second place in the IRB world rankings.
Australia had led 31-6 midway through the first half, but the world champions came fighting back and it took a 56-metre effort from fullback Beale to secure a first win at altitude in South Africa since 1963.
South Africa had gone into the penultimate match of the 2010 Tri-Nations with a 2.23 rating point cushion over their visitors, but Australia's win sees them take over second spot since a brief one-week stay in late August 2008.
The Wallabies, for whom victory was only their second away Tri-Nations win in 22 attempts, now sit nearly eight-tenths above South Africa as they prepare to face the already crowned Tri-Nations champions New Zealand in Sydney at the weekend.
South Africa's fall in the rankings means that New Zealand have increased their advantage at the top to 8.25 points, although this still leaves them over a point shy of their biggest ever margin - 9.41 over France in June 2007 - since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.
The Springboks are now guaranteed to finish bottom of the Tri-Nations table with only one victory in their title defence, but still lie 2.47 rating points above France, the leading northern hemisphere nation, in the IRB World Rankings.
However, not only is the third place equal to the lowest the Boks have been since the De Villiers era started, but the drop to 85.22 rankings points is also lower than the 86.51 points when the Wallabies last overtook the Boks on the rankings.
When De Villiers took over in January 2008 the Boks were ranked No.1, with 90.81 points. They lost first place to the All Blacks in August that year, regained it in July 2009 (with a high of 90.30 points) and conceded first place back to the Kiwis at the end of November last year.
This year the Boks' slide (the loss of ranking points) has been steady and they are now at their lowest since the dramatic slump under Jake White in 2006 and 2007, when they slipped to fifth place (84.69 points) - before rising back to first when they won the World Cup in France.
Top 20 in the IRB World Rankings:
(As at 6 September 2010 - last week's position in brackets)
1(1) New Zealand 94.29
2(3) Australia 86.04
3(2) South Africa 85.22
4(4) France 82.75
5(5) Ireland 82.03
6(6) England 81.82
7(7) Scotland 79.81
8(8) Argentina 79.70
9(9) Wales 78.58
10(10) Fiji 74.39
11(11) Italy 72.97
12(12) Samoa 72.74
13(13) Japan 72.49
14(14) Canada 69.43
15(15) USA 67.86
16(16) Tonga 67.06
17(17) Georgia 66.38
18(18) Russia 65.80
19(19) Romania 65.10
20(20) Namibia 62.69
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