Any form of victory in Melbourne on Saturday would be enough to take England above Australia into second place in the World Rugby Rankings. 

An England victory by 15 points or less comes with a 1.42 points reward, taking them on to 87.79 points, which is still more than eight points adrift of table-topping New Zealand, who are unable to improve their total of 96.10 points regardless of how they fare against Wales. 

Australia stand to lose as many points as England gain if beaten, and the Wallabies could potentially fall to fourth if, at the same time, South Africa record a big win over Ireland in Johannesburg.

The southern hemisphere would fill the top three places, as they did before the June internationals began, if the Wallabies and Springboks find a winning response to last weekend’s defeats by England and Ireland respectively.

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Ireland were unable to improve their ranking of seventh despite their historic win in Cape Town, but a follow-up victory seven days on would result in a rise by as many as two to three places, depending on the margin of victory and results elsewhere.

The only thing that could stop a victorious Ireland climbing to fifth is a Wales win over the All Blacks in Wellington. Given the way the All Blacks powered home to a 39-21 victory in the final quarter of the opening test in Auckland and the loss of star man George North to a tour-ending hamstring injury, that’s asking a lot of the men in red.

It is possible for Ireland to move up to the dizzy heights of fourth if they rewrite the record books and win by more than 15 points – unless Wales can somehow match them in shocking the rugby world. In that case Wales would be up to fourth on the back of a three-point gain.

Fond memories for France

Captained by Stade Français fly-half Jules Plisson, France’s June campaign begins against Argentina, ranked three places above them in fifth. Les Bleus have fond memories of Tucumán, the venue for Saturday’s test, as they recorded a resounding 49-10 victory on their last visit there four years ago. A repeat of that scoreline would move them up one place to seventh in the rankings on the back of a gain of 2.59 points.

If they lose heavily, and Scotland avoid defeat in Japan, Les Bleus would drop to their lowest ever position of ninth since the rankings were introduced in October 2003. Argentina are unable to improve their position in victory but a crushing defeat combined with a big win for Scotland would see Los Pumas fall to ninth.

Scotland start the summer with a tricky-looking trip to Toyko to play a Japanese side just two places below them in the rankings. The Brave Blossoms were replaced by Fiji in the world’s top 10 despite winning narrowly in Canada last time out. Only six hundredths of a point separate Japan from Fiji in the rankings, however, and any form of victory over Scotland would be enough for the Brave Blossoms to recover the lost ground. Fiji will be looking to add Samoa to the scalp of Tonga as the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup and Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying process continues in Suva.

RWC 2015 revisited

For Scotland, the prize of eighth place is up for grabs if they are victorious on their first visit to Japan in 27 years and France fail to win in South America. The last time the sides met was at RWC 2015 when Scotland ran out 45-10 winners at Kingsholm in Gloucester.

Georgia’s tour of the Pacific Islands continues with a test against Tonga, another game where memories of RWC 2015 will come flooding back. The Lelos famously defeated Tonga 17-10 at Kingsholm back in September and will be looking to follow up that victory - and go one better than last weekend when they drew 19-19 with Samoa in Apia - in an attempt to cut the rating points deficit between themselves and the likes of Japan and Fiji. Tonga stand to claim 12th spot off Georgia if they win and Samoa fail to beat Fiji by more than 15 points.

Calgary calling

Elsewhere, Canada and Russia, ranked 18th and 19th respectively, clash for only the fourth time in an international in Calgary. Canada have a perfect 3-0 record against Russia with their last meeting coming in 2012 when the Canucks cruised to a 35-3 victory in Wales as part of their November tour to Europe. A win for the Bears would result in the sides swapping places in the rankings.

It is impossible for Canada to improve their position, and the same applies to near-neighbours USA, even if they were to beat Italy and pick up nearly two full rating points. If beaten in San Jose, Italy would drop to their joint-lowest ranking of 15th.

The only World Rugby Nations Cup match to count towards the rankings this weekend is the one between Uruguay and Spain. A win for Los Teros would lift them above a beaten Russia into 19th. A victorious Spain would leapfrog their opponents into 21st position.

Africa and the Americas

This year's Africa Cup Division 1B comes to a conclusion in Antananarivo with a game between hosts Madagascar and Senegal. If Senegal follow up their 54-3 win over Zambia on Wednesday with a second victory against their higher-ranked opponents they will climb at least four places to 44th in the world. That would increase to six places in the event of them winning by more than 15 points and Trinidad and Tobago losing their Rugby Americas North south zone title-decider against Guyana. If victorious Madagascar can improve their position by three places, moving up from 41st to 38th in the world.

Asides from Trinidad and Tobago versus Guyana, the bottom two in the south zone, Jamaica (ranked 72nd) and Barbados (78th), face off in Kingston. Barbados can move above the Reggae Crocs if they win at the weekend. 

The only game in the north zone features the Cayman Islands (61st) against Bermuda (67th). Realistically the Caymans need to avoid defeat to stand any chance of overhauling Mexico, who they meet on 2 July, at the top of the table. The winners of each zone will then play each other for the right to progress further in the RWC 2019 regional qualification process.

Kicking off a busy weekend of international rugby on Friday are Brazil and Kenya. Os Tupis will climb four places from 35th to 31st if they win well at the 
Estádio Zerão in Macapa. In such a scenario Kenya would drop two to 29th. A Kenyan victory would move them above Ukraine into 26th.