Scotland make rugby world rankings jump ahead of Nations Championship despite not having played

Gregor Townsend is set to name his Scotland squad for their November Test matches next week as the Nations Championship returns.

The men’s national team will play New Zealand, Australia and Japan at Murrayfield next month plus one more fixture as part of ‘Finals Weekend’ at Twickenham. The group was initially due to be announced last week but the selection decision was delayed in order to follow this weekend’s Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh URC matches.

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Scotland have managed to move up in the world rankings before a ball has even been kicked in the capital. It comes after two of their autumn opponents went head-to-head in the past few weeks.

Scotland have moved up one place in the men’s rugby world rankings from seventh to sixth. They have swapped places with Australia, one of the nation’s they will welcome to Murrayfield next month.

The Wallabies played a double-header of matches against New Zealand this month as part of the 2026 Bledisloe Cup, an annual competition contested between the two nations. The All Blacks were 43-21 winners in Sydney last weekend and 50-19 victors in Auckland the weekend before.

Those two defeats ensured that the Aussies dropped just enough ranking points to take them below Scotland’s total meaning they fell below them in the table. Here is the updated men’s world rugby rankings top 15 as of October 23, 2026:

Australia will, of course, have the chance to overtake the Scots again by beating them next month. However, a win for Gregor Townsend's side will open up that gap and also help them edge closer or even overtake some of the teams above them with England in fifth place, the first team that would be in their sights.

World Rugby’s official website gives the following explanation as to how the rankings are calculated: “Men’s and Women's World Rugby Rankings are calculated using a 'Points Exchange' system, where sides gain or lose points based on the match result. Other criteria include the relative strength of each team, the margin of victory, and an allowance for home advantage.

“All member countries have a rating, typically between 0 and 100. The top side in the world will normally have a rating above 90. Any match that is not a full international between two member countries does not count at all. Points are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the importance of this event, but all other international matches, friendly or competitive, are treated the same across the world.”