Ireland Back Up To Third In World Rankings
Ireland have moved up two places to third in the World Rugby Rankings after beating France 24-9 in yesterday’s Pool D decider at the Millennium Stadium.
Joe Schmidt’s men, who topped the pool with their 15-point victory over les Bleus, have leapfrogged Wales (4) and South Africa (5) in the rankings, which are published by World Rugby every Monday.
France dropped one place to seventh following the Cardiff reversal, swapping places with Ireland’s quarter-final opponents Argentina, who rose to sixth.
Seven of the eight Rugby World Cup 2015 quarter-finalists feature in the top eight of the rankings, the exception being Scotland, who remain one place below England in ninth position.
Under the points exchange system used to calculate rankings, sides take points off each other based on the match result – whatever one side gains, the other loses. Such points exchanges are doubled during the Rugby World Cup to recognise the unique importance of the event.
Other changes from last week’s rankings include Japan overtaking Fiji to go 10th overall and Italy climbing one place to 12th, above Tonga.
WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS (as of Monday, October 12):
Last week’s positions in brackets –
1(1) New Zealand 92.89 rating points
2(2) Australia 90.93
3(5) IRELAND 85.74
4(3) Wales 85.71
5(4) South Africa 84.58
6(7) Argentina 80.49
7(6) France 79.77
8(8) England 79.77
9(9) Scotland 77.94
10(11) Japan 77.05