Year-end No 1 ranking becomes Bok property
12/30/2024 11:00 PM
The Springboks will end the year at No 1 for the sixth time since the World Rugby rankings were introduced in 2003, and the fifth time in the past six years.
The Boks first achieved the feat in 2007 after winning the World Cup in France (ranking points are doubled for matches at the global showpiece) to end with 90.82 ranking points (1.21 ahead of the second-placed All Blacks).
While John Smit’s Boks had one of their best seasons in 2009 – winning a Lions series and the Tri-Nations to go No 1 – two defeats on their end-of-year tour saw them slip to second, behind New Zealand.
The Boks had to wait until 2019 to again finish the year ranked No 1, following a World Cup win under coach Rassie Erasmus in Japan that boosted their points tally to 94.20 (2.08 ahead of the All Blacks).
The world champs stayed on top in 2020 despite not playing a single match due to Covid-19 lockdowns, ending the year with a massive 4.71 ranking points lead – their biggest ever at the top on New Year’s Eve – over the All Blacks (who were able to play six matches).
That lead enabled the Boks to end 2021 at No 1 despite winning just eight out of 13 Tests, although their rankings points dropped to 90.61, with New Zealand reducing the gap to 1.86.
After dropping down to fourth in 2022, the Boks shot back up to No 1 in 2023 after defending their World Cup title in France, ending the tournament with 94.54 ranking points (3.97 more than Ireland).
In 2024, the Boks’ achieved their highest ranking points tally ever of 94.86 after beating Ireland in the first Test at Loftus in July. They went on to win 11 out of 13 Tests and end the year at No 1 with 92.78 points (2.00 more than Ireland).
For the record, South Africa have been ranked No 1 on 10 separate occasions: 2007-08, 2008, 2009, 2019, 2019-21, 2021, 2021-22, 2023, 2023-24 and 2024.
The Boks’ longest stint at the top was 98 weeks (from 4 November 2019 to 20 September 2021) and they have spent a total of 250 weeks there since 2003 (the All Blacks hold the record at 743 weeks).
Springboks' year-end World Rugby ranking:
2003: 5
2004: 4
2005: 2
2006: 4
2007: 1
2008: 2
2009: 2
2010: 3
2011: 4
2012: 2
2013: 2
2014: 2
2015: 3
2016: 6
2017: 6
2018: 5
2019: 1
2020: 1
2021: 1
2022: 4
2023: 1
2024: 1
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The post Year-end No 1 ranking becomes Bok property appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
