Ireland And Australia On The Rise In World Rankings

Ireland have moved up to second place in the World Rugby Rankings for the first time since they were introduced in 2003.

Saturday’s 35-21 win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff earned Ireland 1.13 ratings points, putting them a fraction ahead of Australia who jumped two places to third on the back of their Bledisloe Cup triumph against the All Blacks.

The Nic White-inspired Wallabies gained 1.61 points to move on to 86.84 points, 0.05 behind the Irish and 1.44 in front of England, the only top six side not in action at the weekend, who remain fourth.

For New Zealand it was their first defeat since they lost to South Africa a year ago and a disappointing way to mark Richie McCaw’s record-equalling 141st Test appearance. It also saw their lead at the top of the rankings cut to 5.83 points.

Meanwhile, hat-trick hero Juan Imhoff helped Argentina to an historic 37-25 victory over South Africa in Kings Park, Durban and a gain of two full rankings points. Los Pumas are now within touching instance of France in seventh place, the gap between the two nations now down to 0.57 of a point.

With a drop of three places from second to fifth, South Africa were the weekend’s biggest losers from a rankings perspective. Three consecutive Rugby Championship defeats have seen their rankings points total reduced to 84.37 points – 1.43 more than sixth-placed Wales.

World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup 2015 champions Fiji are now ranked ninth following Monday’s 39-29 title-deciding success against Samoa, while Tonga move up into the top 10 as a result of their victory over Japan in the third-place play-off with Samoa falling to 11th.

WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS (as of Monday, August 10):

Last week’s positions in brackets –

1(1) New Zealand 92.72 rating points
2(3) IRELAND 86.89
3(5) Australia 86.84
4(4) England 85.40
5(2) South Africa 84.37
6(6) Wales 82.94
7(7) France 79.74
8(8) Argentina 79.17
9(10) Fiji 77.04
10(12) Tonga 75.25