Rankings: Springboks officially rise to second, close in on No 1

The Springboks’ Rugby World Cup squad made the journey from London to Corsica on Saturday for their World Cup training camp and will arrive at their RWC base in Toulon on Sunday, 3 September.

Of course, on Friday, the Springboks fired a warning shot that reverberated around the rugby world at a mesmerised Twickenham as they inflicted the heaviest defeat on the All Blacks in New Zealand’s storied history, running away 35-7 victors (halftime 14-0) in front of 80 827 fans.

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As a result, South Africa have now shot up to second in the World Rugby rankings, while New Zealand have dropped to fourth.

In fact, the Springboks are now just 0.74 points behind first-placed Ireland, who scraped a win over Samoa on Saturday.

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South Africa will soon kick off their 2023 World Cup campaign against Scotland on Sunday, 10 September, while the tournament itself will begin on Friday, 8 September with a blockbuster battle between France and New Zealand.

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Make sure you don’t miss a minute of the action, with all the kick-off times falling at mostly favourable times in South Africa.

CHECK OUT THE SPRINGBOKS’ FIXTURES BELOW:

RWC fixtures:
Sunday, 10 September – Springboks v Scotland (Stade Velodrome, Marseille). Kick-off time: 17:45
Sunday, 17 September – Springboks v Romania (Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux). Kick-off time: 15:00
Saturday, 23 September – Springboks v Ireland (Stade de France, Paris). Kick-off time: 21:00
Sunday, 1 October – Boks v Tonga (Stade Velodrome, Marseille). Kick-off time: 21:00

Weekend of 14/15 October – Quarter-finals
Weekend of 21/22 October – Semi-finals
Saturday, 28 October – Final

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You can also check out all the World Cup fixtures and kick-off times here, with South Africa and France notably in the same time zone.

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