Saturday sees the start of the inaugural Americas Rugby Challenge as well as the continuation of The Rugby Championship, with all five of the games played out across the two competitions counting towards the World Rugby Rankings.

We take a look at the various permutations and some of the facts and figures surrounding the matches ahead of another ground-breaking weekend of international rugby that sees Owen Franks become the ninth All Black to win 100 caps.

NEW ZEALAND (1) v AUSTRALIA (5)

Team news

New Zealand have retained the same starting forward pack which beat Australia 38-13 in Sydney last weekend, while Ofa Tu'ungafasi comes back onto the replacements bench for Tim Perry. There are two injury-enforced changes in the backline, though. With winger Rieko Ioane ruled out, Waisake Naholo comes across to the left wing, Ben Smith moves to the right wing and Jordie Barrett takes his place at full-back for his third test start. In the midfield, Ngani Laumape replaces Ryan Crotty.

Brumbies duo Folau Faingaa and Tom Banks are in line to make their Australia debuts in a team showing four changes from Sydney. Scott Sio returns from injury and Allan Alaalatoa is promoted into a new-look front row, as Australia try and overcome the set-piece problems that dogged them in the Bledisloe Cup opener. Tom Robertson and Sekope Kepu both drop to the bench alongside Faingaa and Banks. In the backs, an ankle injury to full-back Israel Folau has also forced a re-shuffle, with Dane Haylett-Petty moved to 15 and last week’s try-scoring debutant Jack Maddocks (pictured) given a start on the wing.

In brief

  • Owen Franks is set to become the All Blacks’ newest centurion, seven days after Sam Whitelock brought up the milestone in Sydney
  • Victory for the All Blacks would see them retain the Bledisloe Cup, which they have held since 2003
  • The All Blacks need four tries to overtake Scotland as the highest-scoring international team this year. The All Blacks have scored 25 from four tests in comparison to Scotland’s 28 from eight.
  • New Zealand have won their last 17 matches against Australia at Eden Park dating back to 1986 when the Wallabies won 22-9.

Rankings predictor

Home advantage – and the sizeable gap between themselves and the Wallabies – means that no further rating points can be picked up this weekend by New Zealand. If Australia can turn the tables on their rivals and level the Bledisloe Cup series at 1-1, they will climb two places to third behind New Zealand and Ireland.

ARGENTINA (10) v SOUTH AFRICA (6)

Team news

Mario Ledesma has decided against making wholesale changes for Saturday's return match with South Africa. Tomas Lavanini, in the second row, is the only new face to the starting line-up with Matias Alemanno dropping to the bench. Among the replacements are uncapped hooker Facundo Bosch and fit-again back Jeronimo de la Fuente.

Second-row Franco Mostert is the only change in the Springbok starting team for this Rugby Championship encounter in Mendoza. Mostert was rested for last weekend’s victory over Los Pumas in Durban following his heavy workload so far this year. He will form a second-row partnership with Eben Etzebeth, which sees Pieter-Steph du Toit moving to the bench as cover. There are two more changes among the forward replacements with second-row RG Snyman making a return to the match-day 23 in place of Marvin Orie, while prop Wilco Louw rotates places with Thomas du Toit. The backline is unchanged.

In brief

  • South Africa have won 24 and lost only two of their 27 meetings with Argentina
  • Saturday's venue, Estadio Malvinas in Mendoza, played host to the only drawn match between the sides: 16-16 in 2012
  • Tendai Mtawarira is now the most capped Springbok against Argentina (15 tests). He surpassed Bryan Habana’s 14 test caps against the Pumas in Durban 
  • Argentina are on a six-match losing streak at home
  • South Africa need 31 points to score 1,000 in tests against Argentina
  • One try would see Argentina bring up their half-century in tests against the Springboks

Rankings predictor

Any form of victory would see Argentina leapfrog Fiji and move into ninth place, but defeat would see them slip out of the top 10 with Japan the beneficiaries. South Africa will slip below Scotland if they fail to win in Mendoza. A Springboks victory would be accompanied by a gain of 0.78 of a point, but they can only improve their current position of sixth if they win well and Australia are beaten by the All Blacks in Auckland.

PARAGUAY (38) v MEXICO (53)

In brief

  • This is the first time the sides have met at test level
  • Paraguay have conceded more than 50 points in four of their last five tests
  • Paraguay finished fifth of six teams at the inaugural Sudamérica Rugby 6 Nations in May
  • Mexico are playing their first test since losing 39-17 to the Cayman Islands 14 months ago
  • Mexico won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Championship for the first and only time in their history in 2016

Rankings predictor

Paraguay can jump two places – above Ukraine and Zimbabwe – to 36th if they win well. Mexico would fall by three in such a scenario with the Cook Islands, Senegal and Croatia the beneficiaries. An all-time high of 43rd, an improvement of 10 places on their current position, is within Mexico’s reach if they win emphatically in Medellin, picking up a fraction over two points in the process.

COLOMBIA (43) v GUYANA (46)

In brief

  • The sides are facing each other for the first time in a test
  • Colombia are on a 14-game winning run at home in tests although they were beaten by an Uruguay XV in a representative match last time out
  • Colombia finished last of six teams when the inaugural Sudamérica Rugby 6 Nations was held back in May
  • Guyana won their last test, 24-17 v Trinidad and Tobago in June 2017 but lost out to USA South for the RAN title

Rankings predictor

Colombia will reach an all-time high of 39th if they beat Guyana by more than 15 points. If the margin of victory is less, Los Tucanes will remain unchanged in 43rd position but with an improved rating of 48.26 points. Guyana will slip two places to 48th in defeat. Victory for the Guyanese could be worth as many as 2.11 points and a seven-place rise to 39th with Colombia down to 48th.