Ireland Rise To Sixth In World Rankings

Ireland’s 26-3 victory over a Welsh side bidding to become the first to win three successive titles in the Six Nations era means that two sides swap places with Joe Schmidt’s men now sixth and Wales seventh.

This was the only movement as a consequence of the Six Nations with England’s 20-0 win over Scotland at Murrayfield strengthening their position in fourth.

France remain fifth after a 30-10 triump over the lower-ranked Italians had no impact on their rating points of 82.05.

The only other match that did result in a positional change was Spain’s 11-6 defeat of Belgium in Madrid in Division 1A of the European Nations Cup, a competition which doubles as the region’s qualification process for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Spain climb one place to 21st as a result, regaining the place they lost to neighbours Portugal after a 28-25 loss to Russia on home soil the week before. The defeat also sees Belgium slip one place to 28th with Chile the beneficiaries.

The two other European Nations Cup fixtures saw Georgia and Romania enjoy victories on the road in Portugal and Russia to remain unbeaten in the competition and continue leading the race to secure the Europe 1 and 2 qualification places for RWC 2105.

Georgia ran out 34-9 winners over Portugal in Lisbon to inch closer to Canada above them in 15th, while Romania have narrowed the deficit slightly to their rivals after a 34-3 success against 19th-ranked Russia in Nebug.

IRB WORLD RANKINGS (as of Monday, February 10):

Last week’s positions in brackets –

1(1) New Zealand 93.81 rating points
2(2) South Africa 89.34
3(3) Australia 86.88
4(4) England 85.18
5(5) France 82.05
6(7) IRELAND 81.05
7(6) Wales 79.10
8(8) Samoa 77.34
9(9) Argentina 76.44
10(10) Scotland 75.26
11(11) Fiji 74.21
12(12) Tonga 73.21
13(13) Italy 73.13
14(14) Japan 72.06
15(15) Canada 70.75