Which is the best Rugby team in the world

South Africa. They are the current World Champions.

Warrington Wolves

A the 1st poster said, the RWC winners are South Africa and they are number one in the world!

S.Africa. It used to be Australia! lol

It has to be the Springboks..Not only did they win the RWC, but afterwards toured to Wales and won. Now Wales is about to win the 6 Nations and score a possible grand slam.

But..the Boks will not be the same team next time they field a squad. With all the changes that will be made, l think the All-Blacks will move up to number 1.

Ireland looked strong against Scotland in the last match l saw. Some good up and comers for Ireland.

None of the northern hemisphere sides look very good to me. So its NZ or SA and that is hard to call with all the post WC retirements If they'd let the Argentinians into the tri-nations we might find out.

According to the IRB rankings it is South Africa, followed by NZ, Argentina, Australia & England rounding out the top 5.

IRB World Rankings - 10 March 2008 Position
1 SOUTH AFRICA 90.81
2 NEW ZEALAND 89.59
3 ARGENTINA 87.42
4 AUSTRALIA 84.20
5 ENGLAND 83.18
6 FRANCE 81.00
7 WALES 78.72
8 IRELAND 77.36
9 SCOTLAND 75.97
10 FIJ l 75.88

South Africa r definitely on top due to recent form in the RWC. NZ r close behind as they have been winning games from the tri-nations & other tours. Argentina, Australia & England while not contenders for No.1 r up there due to the reasonable ability to win big games on a regular basis (although not as often as SA & NZ).

Officially who ever wins the Rugby World Cup every 4 years
which is the Springboks who won in 2007.

My heart says the All Blacks, thats a fan is choice!

South Indian team

Hi,

l have two teams The All Blacks and The Proteas,,,,


Cheers

ACT Brumbies

The top tournaments in the world are tri nations & 6 Nations. The absolute pinnacle is rugby world cup. South Africa can not compete in the 6N, they won the RWC, and beat the All blacks in the tri nations.

BUT, l would still say the AB is are a better team overall, l must however accept the position of the Bokke at #1 according to the IRB Rankings.

South Africa has won the cup but u want to know the best teamin Rugby history up to now is THE ALLBLACKS they have a test strike rate of 84%over 100yrs,sth Africa has beaten NZ 8times over their past 30 meetings,since the game has gone professional
Look up the New Zealand Allblacks 19o5-2007 & look at their test strike rate & the hidings we give Australia,France ,Sth Africa,Wales, Scotland & Ireland has never beaten us, England have only won 6 games in 28 meetings,the Lions have won 6 games from 38 with the allblacks The problem is New Zealand ALLBLACKS r expected to win every tournament,grand slam,every game that we play or the country literally turns on them like dogs.We hold our rugby coach more important than the priminister or the president of the U.S.A.Rugby is more than religion here its everything & the pressure is so intense that we exspect nothing but first & our players that we have sent to past world cups crack & get complancent.We won the cup once but WE ARE THE BENCH MARK,WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD AND IN RUGBY HISTORY

Just watch what we will do to the STH africans in the coming up Tri-nations tournament,we will kick their butts as usual

Old welsh git, u 're wrong mate. RSA did not win the tri-nations & rarely do - NZ spanked RSA in Africa, beat them in Australia, & thrashed them in NZ before the world cup last year.The current world champions have not beaten NZ in a very long time. They have only ever won 2 tri-nations championships, as have Australia - the team wearing black has won eight TN championships.

The rankings r a joke. NZ totally dominates. All other countries have only spent less than one percent of the time NZ has spent ranked number one - if referring to the rankings, there is one team that massively dominates all others, with tiny little blips in the data every four years!

Edit: Johann, good on ya mate. Kiwis know the Bokke r the team to beat, & the only team that can really take us apart. Without the competition between RSA & NZ neither nation would be as strong as we are. We always push each other, & the Aussies can give us a good nudge from time to time. Enjoy ur spot at the top of the table, u did the Southern Hemisphere proud by taking the world cup, lets hope the new man can bring a typically strong Bokke team down under for the TN.

Edit: Nice one Hikuleo, but we r wasting our time. Some people just love to hate the ABs. The do not understand what a joke the RWC is. They do not value unbeaten test records, because their own nations r strangers to such things. They wave the RWC in our faces because it is the only thing they have to wave - even when their own countries have never beaten the ABs, or even come close to taking a RWC, which is kind of rude. Even if they ABs go on to win the next ten RWCs they will still take the scythe to the tall poppies.

It is actually refreshing that we do not win all the RWCs, be pretty boring if we did.

And Susan C, at least we have won a WC, that is one more than Ireland ever has. If we can only win at home - guess the Irish will thump us in our next test at Croke Park - mmm ? Be a cold day hell before we let any unbeaten record fall.

l sense the fact the Ireland have never beaten NZ fuels u hatred of the ABs & the chance to deride Kiwis who post in support of their national team - it is certainly not logic or hard empirical data patterns. Go to the link below & scroll down to the IRB world ranking leaders bar chart on the right hand side - the tiny green bit around 2008 represents RSA - the rest of the chart is coloured black.

SOUTH AFRICA

The All Blacks will always be the best.SA may be world champions, but NZ still dominate when it comes down to it. They have not had much luck with the world cups, but they are the best team no doubt about it.

l do not think a world cup win counts, if England is the best team you play.

well l think england is and l know that ireland is good too..

South Africa would be considered the top but them and New Zealand are on the same level.

At this point in time it is South Africa.

And l am a South African.

But soon the Tri-Nations will start & then we will see what happens.

If u ask me to be honest - l will always choose the All Blacks because of their performence over an extented period. The Rugby World Cup is once every 4 years. And l am proud that we won it. But...on any day the All Blacks r always there.

It would be the same as asking who the best football/soccer team in the world is - most people will immediately say: Brazil, even though they r not the current world champions.

SOUTH frikken AFRICA do not you watch tv. I'am a real South-African boy a real Afrikaner and South-Africa will do it again!

Despite what Damian thinks it is currently SA.

They won the RWC & r ranked No 1. No dispute at all.

Once they play NZ, things may change but not until then.

Damian forgot to mention that NZ have not won the WRC for more than 20 years & only once & only at home!

Edit:
Damian, l am not saying that Ireland is the greatest thing since slice bread etc.
We r a mediocre team, always will be.
l do not dislike the ABS, but l dislike the arrogance of Kiwis who state that the ABs r greatest team in the world etcetc
but seem to forget that they r incapable of winning keys games in the world is premier Rugby tournament.
Yes, they have a fantastic test record etc but they have lost all World Cupsince the home one of 1987. Hardly world domination is it!!

In the past four years the All Blacks had played 48 tests; lost 6 , won 42. During this period they played S.A. 9 times ; lost 3 won 6 . You tell me who is the true king of rugby and not just an every four years tournament king but a team who consistently wins test matches?

Kia kaha

the All blacks the world cup was last year its old news look at the s a super 14 teams there rugby is a joke people beware when the all blacks finally win a world cup there never ever going to loose it

1. Sheridan
2. Smit
3. Castrogiovanni
4. O'Connell
5. Matfield
6. Collins/R.Jones
7. McCaw
8. Parisse
9. Du Preez/Peel
10. Carter/Contepomi
11. Habana
12. Shanklin
13. O'Driscoll
14. Clerc/Williams
15. Murphy/Latham

The All Blacks.unless it is a World Cup year.then it is either South Africa, Australia or England.