Australia could trade places with South Africa and move up to third in the World Rugby Rankings if they are able to open their 2017 Rugby Championship account in emphatic style in Perth on Saturday evening.

The Wallabies have yet to register a win in the quadrangular tournament having lost both Bledisloe Cup games against the All Blacks, while South Africa actually sit top of the standings on points difference from the All Blacks after doing the double over Argentina.

The Wallabies have made four changes as they look to put back-to-back Bledisloe Cup losses behind them, three of which come in the pack. There are two new faces in the starting front-row with Sekope Kepu and Tatafu Polota-Nau replacing Alan Alalaatoa and Stephen Moore, who misses the game to attend the birth of his third child, while home-crowd favourite Adam Coleman returns to the second row.

In the backs, a season-ending bicep injury to Dane Haylett-Petty opens the door for Reece Hodge on the right wing.

Each of the last three games between the sides on Australian soil have ended in a home victory – but by a margin of six points or less. Another tight win for the Wallabies would gain them 0.84 of a point and a one-place rise to fourth, at Ireland’s expense. Win by more than 15 points and Australia will replace the Springboks in third.

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South Africa cannot improve their position in the rankings as England are four-and-a-half points clear of them in the standings. However, if they could repeat their 38-12 win in Brisbane back in 2013, Alistair Coetzee’s side would pick up 1.73 points and reduce England’s advantage to less than three points.

Coetzee has chosen to keep changes to a minimum with Ross Cronje back from injury to take his place at scrum-half and Pieter-Steph du Toit restored to the second row after performing bench-warming duties in each of his last five tests.

RINGING THE CHANGES

After a heart-stopper in Dunedin against Australia, the unbeaten All Blacks will be looking to reassert their authority against bottom-of-the-table Argentina at the Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth on Saturday night.

The All Blacks have made a number of changes to the side that beat Australia 35-29 in a last-minute thriller in Dunedin two weeks ago.

The major talking points are the selection of blockbusting loose forward Vaea Fifita at blindside flanker, a first test start in 2017 for lock Luke Romano and the return of wing Nehe Milner-Skudder to the All Blacks after a near two-year absence.

In the midfield, Anton Lienert-Brown will partner Sonny Bill Williams while Ngani Laumape will offer impact from the bench.

New Zealand have never lost to Argentina in test rugby, winning 23 of the 24 games played with one draw. Another victory will not come with any form of reward in the rankings given the 17-point and nine-place gap between the nations.

Should Argentina spring a major surprise and beat the All Blacks in their own backyard, they stand to gain a minimum of two rating points and climb above France and Wales into eighth place in the rankings.

After losing twice to South Africa so far in the tournament this year, Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade has made wholesale changes to his team.

Tomas Lavanini is one of seven players to lose their place in the starting XV following his dismissal against South Africa a fortnight ago, with Hourcade opting to pick Guido Petti over him.

Veteran back-rower Juan Leguizamon is another high-profile casualty in the wake of the disappointing home loss to the Springboks, the 34-year-old losing his place to Benjamin Macome.

The other changes in the pack come at tight-head where Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro steps in for the injured Ramiro Herrera, and on the flank with Javier Ortega Desio getting the nod ahead of Tomas Lezana

In the backs, Nicolas Sanchez returns at fly-half in place of Juan Martin Hernandez, while Matias Moroni is preferred to Matias Orlando at centre and Santiago Cordero comes in on the wing for Ramiro Moyano.