All Blacks look to go top of Zurich World Rankings

Tri-Nations champions New Zealand will return to the top of the Zurich World Rankings if they beat their great rivals Australia by 22 points or more in their Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland on Saturday.

No.1? New Zealand have dominated the 3N

Their three wins in this year's Tri-Nations has put them on course for the competition's first clean sweep since South Africa's campaign in 1998 as well as giving them a chance to finally re-claim the Bledisloe Cup that they lost in the same year.

New Zealand were the top-ranked team for 2001-02 but were overtaken by by England back in November 2002 and Clive Woodward's team were later able to consolidate their position with a Six Nations Grand Slam as well as away wins over New Zealand and Australia in June.

However, New Zealand's big wins over South Africa and Australia on their Tri-Nations travels has put them in an ideal position to mount a challenge on England's position although their smaller than expected home win over struggling South Africa has made the job a little harder.

In terms of the bigger global picture, New Zealand's dominance of the Tri-Nations and England's unbeaten run has seen a clear gap emerge between the top two sides in the world and the chasing pack with world champions and third-placed team Australia some 149 rankings points behind New Zealand before the weekend's games.

Meanwhile, the Springboks, despite their win over Australia on the opening Tri-Nations weekend, will now go in to the 2003 Rugby World Cup at an all-time low in the Zurich World Rankings.

The 1995 World Champions have slipped to just 1006 points in fifth place, a figure that contrasts sharply with their tally in late 1998 when they accumulated a record 1317 rankings points.

Matches involving uncapped England XV, NZ Maori, South Africa 'A' and USA 'A' have not been accounted for in this month's calculations.

Zurich World Rankings (as of August 10, 2003):

1 England 1287
2 New Zealand 1271 (+61)
3 Australia 1122 (-31)
4 France 1096
5 South Africa 1006 (-36)
6 Ireland 882
7 Argentina 798
8 Scotland 772
9 Wales 687
10 Samoa 675 (+11)
11 Italy 593
12 Canada 591
13 Fiji 559 (-8)
14 Tonga 527 (+10)
15 Japan 457
16 United States 407
17 Romania 383
18 Georgia 359
19 Uruguay 307
(+1) 20 Portugal 292

(-1) 21 Namibia 290 (-4)
22 Russia 276
23 Morocco 258
24 Tunisia 254
25 Chile 251
26= Cote d'Ivoire 237
26= Czech Republic 237
28 Spain 234
29 Cook Islands 230
30 Korea 228
31 Germany 225
32 Ukraine 224
33 Poland 219
34 Netherlands 218
35 Denmark 211
36 Croatia 210
37 Slovenia 207
38 Switzerland 204
(+1) 39 Brazil 198
(+1) 40 Latvia 197

(-2) 41= Zimbabwe 196 (-5)
(+1) 41= Sweden 196
43 Belgium 193
44 Papua New Guinea 193
45 Chinese Taipei 190
46 Hong Kong 188
47 Paraguay 171
48 Madagascar 173 (+4)
(+1) 49 Kenya 167 (+9)
(-1) 50 Arabian Gulf 163
51 Yugoslavia 150
52 Trinidad and Tobago 147
53 Hungary 140
54 Austria 135
55 Bermuda 132
56 Andorra 131
57 Malaysia 126
58 Thailand 125
59 Moldova 121
60 China 119

61 Singapore 112
62 Uganda 111 (+10)
63 Lithuania 98
64= Zambia 93
64= Kazakhstan 93
(+1) 66 Sri Lanka 91
(-1) 67 Botswana 88 (-4)
68 Venezuela 87
69= Cameroon 79
69= Cayman Islands 79
71 Israel 77
72 Tahiti 72
73 Bosnia 70
74 Malta 66
75 Bulgaria 58
76 Luxembourg 57
77 Niue Island 55
78 Jamaica 48
79= Solomon Islands 37
79= Peru 37
81 Monaco 36
82 Swaziland 34
83 Barbados 29
84= Mexico 26
84= Norway 26
86= Bahamas 24
86= Guyana 24
88 Vanuatu 23
89 Colombia 20