Ireland can cut South Africa’s lead at the top of the rankings by up to 0.87 rating points if they beat England by more than 15 points. However, this would still leave them 1.56 points behind the Springboks.
An England victory will be enough for them to leapfrog France and move into fourth place as long as Les Bleus don’t win against Wales a day later.
England win by more than 15 points and France fail to match that margin in victory, then England will also be the higher-ranked of the two teams.
With just under a point available to them in victory, France cannot catch New Zealand in third, although the gap will be down to 2.49 points if they win by more than 15 points in Cardiff.
However, France could drop as low as sixth if they lose and England and Scotland are victorious with the margin in Cardiff or Rome being more than 15 points.
A win by more than 15 points for Scotland in Rome, accompanied by defeats for England and France, will result in Gregor Townsend’s team climbing to a new high of fourth.
Scotland can still break new ground with a smaller margin of victory if England and France are both on the wrong side of heavy defeats.
Even if France win, a Scotland victory in Rome will still see them climb one place to fifth should England lose to top of the table Ireland at Twickenham.
England can fall no lower than sixth this weekend.
Wales are guaranteed to climb above Argentina in victory but cannot move any higher than seventh this weekend.
It is possible for Italy to equal their all-time rankings high of eighth. To do this, the Azzurri must beat Scotland by more than 15 points and hope Wales suffer the same fate against France.
Italy have only previously enjoyed two separate weeks in eighth, one in March and August 2007.
Wales will drop to ninth in this scenario, leaving them ranked below the Azzurri for the first time since February 2013.
A smaller margin of victory will still be enough to lift the Azzurri above Australia into ninth, condemning the Wallabies to their equal lowest ranking of 10th.
Italy will slip back to 11th, dropping below Fiji, if beaten at home by Scotland.
Czechia will climb at least one place if they avoid defeat against the higher ranked Switzerland in Prague, two if the victory margin is by more than 15 points. A heavy defeat will see the Swiss fall three places to 29th.
Switzerland cannot improve on 26th place in victory but can close to 0.62 rating points behind Russia above.
Czechia will fall three places in defeat with Poland, Sweden and Uganda the beneficiaries.
Rankings
South Africa 94.54
Ireland 92.11
New Zealand 89.80
France 86.39
England 84.93
Scotland 84.29
Argentina 80.68
Wales 79.54
Australia 77.48
Italy 76.58
Match officials
Angus Gardner (Australia) takes charge of Italy v Scotland, having been drafted in as a replacement for the injured Jaco Peyper. It will be the second time he referees this fixture, having overseen Scotland's 26-14 victory last year.
Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) will be in the middle for England v Ireland at Twickenham with both sides yet to lose with the Georgian as referee. He refereed both teams at Rugby World Cup 2023, against Japan and Romania respectively.
Luke Pearce (England) referees his second match of the 2024 Championship with Wales v France, having celebrated his 50th Test in Dublin last month. Pearce has refereed this fixture once before with France's 32-20 win in March 2021.
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