France is the first country in the world for the first time in its history
France’s 15th national team will take over the rugby world rankings on Monday.
France, who beat Japan 20-15 on Saturday in Tokyo, will become world No. 1 on Monday, the first since the rankings were created in 2003, according to World Rugby, the world’s governing body for rugby.
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Fabian Galthey’s men, who are unbeaten this season with 10 straight victories, also a first in France’s 15th history, will now overtake South Africa, the former world No. 1, who was defeated by Wales on a thread (13-12).
If the World Champion Springboks had won, they would have remained at the top of the rankings, but their defeat, combined with the Blues’ second win in Japan and an All-Black loss of less than 15 points against Ireland (23-12) allows the French to move ahead of them in the next ranking to be published on Monday.
South Africa will even drop to third in the standings, overtaking Ireland, who signed a historic victory in New Zealand against the All Blacks on Saturday in Dunedin. Thus the New Zealanders dropped from second to fourth place, their worst place since the world rankings were created.
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