FloRugby's Professional Club Power Rankings: Dec. 24, 2025
FloRugby's Professional Club Power Rankings: Dec. 24, 2025
Derby Weekend reshapes the global club picture, as the DHL Stormers tighten their grip on No. 1, with Glasgow, Bristol and Bath on the rise.
Derby Weekend is the perfect stress test for any ranking system because emotion, familiarity and edge cases collide.
This one delivered all of it, with the DHL Stormers tightening their grip on No. 1, Glasgow landing the first punch in the 1872 Cup and the Dragons finally turning pain into points in Newport.
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At the top, the Stormers did what elite teams do when they do not have their best stuff. They found a way. A 34-27 bonus-point win over the Lions in Cape Town made it seven from seven in the BKT URC and nine from nine in all competitions, a run that now looks less like a hot streak and more like an identity.
The Stormers were down 17-10 at the break, but four tries, and Jurie Matthee’s six kicks, dragged the game back onto Stormers' terms, with Paul de Villiers adding another player-of-the-match nod.
John Dobson’s read on his squad is exactly why the model keeps rewarding them.
“There’s something in this group," he said. "We don’t have a squad full of big names. It’s just a bunch of guys willing to work for each other and do the ugly, unseen stuff.”
That is basically the blueprint for sustainable Elo style success because effort areas stabilize week to week, while flair comes and goes.
The other South African derby delivered a different kind of statement, a full house and a finish.
A capacity crowd of 44,517 watched the Hollywoodbets Sharks beat the Vodacom Bulls 21-12, with Siya Kolisi and Edwill van der Merwe landing the late daggers. The result does not rocket the Sharks up the board yet, but it does confirm something important - their floor is rising. Once your floor rises, your rating follows.
In Scotland, Glasgow took the first leg of the 1872 Cup with a 24-12 bonus-point win over Edinburgh at Hampden Park, and it felt like a game that the rankings love: intense, direct, decided by execution in key moments.
Rory Darge grabbed Player of the Match and set the tone.
“I loved it," Darge said. "I missed playing at Hampden last year, so to experience it for the first time was awesome.”
Glasgow’s rating staying inside the top 4 is no accident. The team keeps banking wins that carry extra weight because the opposition is strong, and the margins are controlled.
Ireland’s interprovincial battle also landed exactly where the model expects a contender to land, in the fight.
Leinster came back from 17-7 down to beat Ulster 24-20, and the context matters.
The match-winning try came late, it earned a bonus point and it happened in a hostile environment.
Jack Conan described it perfectly.
“It was a proper test match out there,” Conan said.
He also summed up the process of riding out pressure without losing shape.
“For us, it was about being calm and backing the system and not panicking too much," he added.
If you want one match that captures why you never overreact to a single week, it is Cardiff v Scarlets.
Cardiff had been flying, the Scarlets were bottom, and the visitors still walked out with a 21-17 win at the Arms Park, powered by Gareth Davies doing Gareth Davies things.
“I enjoy a couple of tries at the Arms Park," Davies said. "I enjoy playing here.”
The lesson is simple. Rivalry fixtures compress the gap, and the model reflects that by keeping changes meaningful but not hysterical.
The Dragons story is the one that matters most for the lower third of the table.
A 48-28 win over Connacht ended a brutal league drought, and it looked like a team playing with the handbrake off.
Rio Dyer put the emotion on the record.
“It’s something we really deserve after everything we have been through over the last few months," Dyer said. "We have worked so hard.”
The key is what comes next, because one win moves your rating, two wins changes your direction.
Across the channel, the Premiership is starting to show a sharper edge.
Bristol is second overall in these rankings and they earned it, ripping Harlequins apart 40-14 at Big Game with the kind of first half that breaks a game and a narrative.
Northampton also keeps stacking evidence, blowing away Sale 47-21, while Bath going to Newcastle and putting up 50 is the kind of ruthless away performance that protects a contender’s rating.
Exeter’s surge is real, too, a 30-24 comeback at Saracens that had Rob Baxter leaning into the mentality shift.
“We stayed in the fight long enough to get things to go our way, then eventually they did,” Baxter said.
The Japan League One season is just beginning, but the model already is giving you the headline, and the contenders are separating.
Saitama and Tokyo Sungoliath are unbeaten and sitting in the top 13, while Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo remains dangerous even when the game is messy. The important warning is sample size. Two games can spike a team, but the stabilizer is coming once the schedule piles up.
How The Power Rankings Work
These are Elo based ratings.
Every match updates a team’s number based on opponent strength and result, with contextual adjustments such as home advantage and competition weighting.
Big wins over strong opponents move the needle most, narrow wins over weaker teams move it least and losses can be costly when expectation is high.
The goal is not to mirror a league table, it is to estimate true strength right now, across competitions, using one shared scale.
Full Rankings
DHL Stormers, 9, 1676
Bristol Bears, 9, 1608
Northampton Saints, 9, 1616
Glasgow Warriors, 9, 1588
Bath, 9, 1582
Munster, 9, 1587
Toulouse, 14, 1581
Exeter Chiefs, 9, 1576
Bordeaux Bègles, 14, 1569
Leinster, 9, 1564
Stade Francais, 14, 1558
Saitama Wild Knights, 2, 1553
Tokyo Sungoliath, 2, 1553
Montpellier, 14, 1551
Kubota Spears, 2, 1546
Pau, 14, 1546
Toulon, 14, 1531
Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo, 2, 1526
La Rochelle, 14, 1522
Cardiff Rugby, 9, 1516
Ulster, 8, 1521
Racing 92, 14, 1515
Benetton, 9, 1504
Leicester Tigers, 9, 1504
Kobelco Kobe Steelers, 2, 1501
Toyota Verblitz, 2, 1501
Urayasu D Rocks, 2, 1501
Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars, 2, 1499
Castres, 14, 1498
Edinburgh, 8, 1500
Sale Sharks, 9, 1486
Hollywoodbets Sharks, 9, 1483
Emirates Lions, 9, 1477
Scarlets, 8, 1482
Cheetahs, 2, 1475
Shizuoka BlueRevs, 2, 1474
Newcastle Falcons, 1, 1474
Bayonne, 14, 1469
Saracens, 9, 1467
Black Lion, 2, 1458
Harlequins, 9, 1456
BlackRams Tokyo, 2, 1456
Yokohama Canon Eagles, 2, 1447
Vodacom Bulls, 9, 1446
Ospreys, 9, 1455
MIE Honda Heat, 2, 1445
Gloucester Rugby, 9, 1444
Connacht, 8, 1442
Newcastle Red Bulls, 8, 1441
Dragons, 9, 1430
Zebre, 9, 1427
ASM Clermont Auvergne, 14, 1416
Lyon, 14, 1404
Perpignan, 14, 1374
Montauban, 14, 1340
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Investec Champions Cup Round 2
Friday, Dec. 12
- 3 p.m. ET: Leicester Tigers vs. Leinster Rugby, Mattioli Woods Welford Road
Saturday, Dec. 13
- 8 a.m. ET: DHL Stormers vs. La Rochelle, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
- 10:15 a.m. ET: Hollywoodbets Sharks vs. Saracens, Hollywoodbets Kings Park
- 10:15 a.m. ET: Clermont Auvergne vs. Sale Sharks, Stade Marcel-Michelin
- 12:30 p.m. ET: Bordeaux-Bègles vs. Scarlets, Stade Chaban-Delmas
- 12:30 p.m. ET: Munster Rugby vs. Gloucester Rugby, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh
- 3 p.m. ET: Glasgow Warriors vs. Toulouse, Scotstoun Stadium
Sunday, Dec. 14
- 8 a.m. ET: Harlequins vs. Bayonne, Twickenham Stoop
- 8 a.m. ET: Castres Olympique vs. Edinburgh Rugby, Stade Pierre-Fabre
- 10:15 a.m. ET: Toulon vs. Bath Rugby, Stade Félix Mayol
- 10:15 a.m. ET: Northampton Saints vs. Vodacom Bulls, cinch Stadium @ Franklin’s Gardens
- 12:30 p.m. ET: Bristol Bears vs. Pau, Ashton Gate
Investec Champions Cup Round 1 Scores
Friday Scores
- DHL Stormers 23, Bayonne 17 | FINAL
- Sale Sharks 21, Glasgow Warriors 26 | FINAL
Saturday Scores
- Saracens 47, Clermont 10 | FINAL
- Bordeaux 46, Vodacom Bulls 33 | FINAL
- La Rochelle 39, Leicester Tigers 20 | FINAL
- Leinster Rugby 45, Harlequins 28 | FINAL
- Bristol Bears 17, Scarlets 16 | FINAL
- Bath Rugby 40, Munster Rugby 14 | FINAL
Sunday Scores
- Northampton Saints 35, Pau 27 | FINAL
- Toulouse 56, Hollywoodbets Sharks 19 | FINAL
- Gloucester Rugby 34, Castres 14 | FINAL
- Edinburgh Rugby 33, Toulon | Final
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