Springbok Women could leap three rankings places with shock win over Black Ferns in Soweto

A win for the Springbok Women against the Black Ferns at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday would move South Africa three places up the World Rugby rankings, from 10th to seventh, with a further place available if they win by 15 points or more.

The fixture is a curtain-raiser to the Springboks and All Blacks’ third Test in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, making it a rare doubleheader at the Johannesburg venue. It is only the third time the two women’s sides have met, and the first time the match has been played on South African soil.

The stakes cut both ways. Defeat would see Whitney Hansen’s side drop to third in the rankings, with Canada poised to replace them in second. A New Zealand victory, by contrast, cannot lift the Black Ferns any higher than their current position.

The two teams first met at the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup, then again at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, where the Black Ferns won a quarter-final 46-17 at Exeter’s Sandy Park. South Africa had been level at 10-10 at half-time in that knockout tie — their first-ever at World Cup level — before the six-time champions pulled clear in the second half.

Fly-half Libbie Janse van Rensburg reflected on that collapse: “We had a plan and it worked for the first half, when we were 10-10. We did not maintain that composure in the second half and that allowed them to run away with it. We cannot afford just one half, we need to play equally well in both.”

South Africa arrive at the fixture in a state of transition. Head coach Swys de Bruin has departed, with assistant coaches Laurian Johannes-Haupt and Franzel September named as co-head coaches ahead of upcoming WXV Global Series fixtures against Wales, Italy and Ireland.

Elsewhere in the rankings, Fiji’s 15-12 victory over Japan on Friday has moved the Fijiana XV from 13th to 12th, a shift that pushes Wales down to their lowest-ever ranking position of 13th.