Springboks back to No 1 in rankings after Wales beat New Zealand

0 Wales claimed a historic win over New Zealand on Saturday. Image: X/@WelshRugbyUnion Home » Sport » Rugby » Springboks back to No 1 in rankings after Wales beat New Zealand

Wales claimed a historic win over the All Blacks in a shock result on Saturday that saw the Springboks return to No 1 in the world rankings.

0 Wales claimed a historic win over New Zealand on Saturday. Image: X/@WelshRugbyUnion The Springboks slumped to defeat against France on Friday night, and as a result also lost 1.56 rankings points to slip to second in the World Rugby rankings behind New Zealand.

All expectations were that the All Blacks would claim a comfortable win over Wales on Saturday, and also take control of the southern standings in the Nations Championship.

However, no one could have predicted the historic turn of events, which saw Wales clinch a 35-28 victory to beat the All Blacks for the first time since 1953.

Tries from Tomos Williams, Dewi Lake, Archie Griffin, Eddie James and Louis Rees-Zammit inspired a remarkable result after the scores had been tied 21-21 at half-time.

In the World Rugby rankings, the All Blacks lost two full points, enabling the Springboks to leapfrog immediately back into No 1 spot.

Yet, New Zealand still have a one-point advantage over the Springboks in the Nations Championship southern standings after claiming two losing bonus-points on Saturday.

After the Springboks’ disappointing defeat, Rassie Erasmus was frank about his assessment of the game.

“France played really well and we didn’t, so I can’t find a lot of excuses. They took their opportunities when they got them and we didn’t.

“It’s probably a cliché, but I definitely think we had enough opportunities and there were simple tries we could have scored with one last pass, and perhaps one or two wrong decisions, such as not kicking for the corner and rather expecting the referee to give four penalties in a row.

“In front of a crowd like this you might feel you have dominance, but it’s just human not to keep on penalising the home team if they’ve already got a card or two. But in the end, it comes down to the fact that they played well, and we didn’t.”

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