A metric to calculate the difficulty of the Southern Hemisphere sides’ trips over the equator is to divide the total of their opponents’ current World Rugby ranks by the number of Tests on the respective nations’ tours, or: ∑ rankings/# Tests = Tour Difficulty (TD)
South Africa Springboks will only be able to improve their current ranking if one of Ireland’s guests manage to knock off the current numero uno at the global table; unlikely. And pretty much the only nation capable of topping the Irish, New Zealand, has its own issues, so as they say, have to see. Springboks are playing only three Tests, all against countries lower than them on the WR chart, so a single loss could knock them out of their present first runnerup position on the global assessment: Springboks TD = (5+7+11)/3 ≈ 7.7
New Zealand All Blacks can unseat the current world leader should they happy end their Test on Friday the 8th at Lansdowne Road, a relatively momentous feat as coach Andy Farrell has put together the best Irish squad of the post-Sexton era, witnessed by that thrill of victory in the comeback at Kings Park this past summer as Frawley’s dropped goal sailed through the uprights in the 80th minute, Ireland’s pre-eminent posting was back on track. With the AB Test v Japan on October 26 at Yokohama, New Zealand will embark on a 5-Test tour north, the most of the SoHemi XVs. TD = 7.4; excluding Brave Blossoms fixture, which is in October in any case: All Blacks TD = 4.5
Argentina Los Pumas have demonstrated, since head coach Felix Contepomi has taken the wheelhouse, that they can play with anyone in the world. Another three-Test tourist, with either Tomás Albornoz or Santiago Carreras in the pivot, the Big Cats are proven winners when they cover kicks and smother counters: Los Pumas TD ≈ 4.3
Fiji Flying Fijians should like to return home with two-from-three happies, though it may be a far reach for the side that’s made significant gains the past year, including wins over Australia at RWC ’23 and Men of the Rose in the leadup to that RWC Number 10, Caleb Muntz, has taken control of the XV well and may be the best young standoff below the equator and he will only improve with every match forward: Flying Fijian’s TD ≈ 6.3
Australia Wallabies are in the midst of a retrofit these days and are somewhat of a mystery, though they’ll hope to find answers to queries on the trip north. Much talk about the league-crossover, Joseph Sua’ali’I, and the Samoan native’s potential. At 21 years young and 220 pounds, standing 6’5”, “Kuso” has been favorably compared to a young Sonny Bill and also Israel Folau All of the Wallabies adversaries are ranked ahead of them on the world chart save for Wales, who are right behind them. Aussies risk falling out of the Top 10 should they fail to win at minimum two Tests: Wallabies TD = 6.0
Japan Brave Blossoms and coach Eddie Jones will seek at least one victory on the tour that has the BBs facing the toughest three-Test schedule of any traveling team. Japan have the personnel, it remains to be seen if Mr. Jones can have fifteen players manifest that capability onpitch. Brave Blossoms TD (counting the ABs Test) = 4.0
USA Eagles ranked 19 now on the RW chart, confront three nations only just ahead of them. This could be momentous for coach Scott Lawrence’s squad as they look to climb the World Rugby ladder after competitions in the Alpine Foothills and Iberian Peninsula: Eagles TD ≈ 16.3
