IRFU provincial and national age grade coaches - Under-18s, Under-19s and Under-20s - and IRFU elite player development staff from the four provinces gathered recently to review their experiences, discuss challenges and align closer to ensure the development of more effective elite players across the IRFU Elite Player Pathway.

Ireland Fall One Place In World Rankings

Ireland have paid the price for their loss at Twickenham with a one place fall to eighth in the latest IRB World Rankings, dropping once more below Argentina having climbed above the Pumas after their draw with France the previous weekend.

Wales may still be celebrating a third RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam in seven years after beating France 16-9 at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday, but it was not enough to improve their position of fifth in the latest IRB World Rankings.

The margin of victory was not enough to lift Wales above an England side that beat Ireland 30-9 at Twickenham to finish as runners-up to their neighbours in the Championship.

The gap between the two, though, has been reduced to just three tenths ahead of the tours to the southern Hemisphere in June when the battle to secure a top four ranking for the 2015 Rugby World Cup pool allocation draw will resume.

France, who had started the Six Nations ranked third in the world after reaching the 2011 World Cup final, remain sixth despite the loss to Wales, although they now trail their conquerors by 1.41 rating points rather than the one hundredth before the match.

The only Six Nations side on the rise in the rankings this week are Italy, who climb one place to 11th on the back of a 13-6 win over Scotland in Rome. The defeat gave Scotland the wooden spoon and a fall to their lowest ever position of 12th.

IRB WORLD RANKINGS (as of Monday, March 19):

Last week's positions in brackets -

1(1) NEW ZEALAND 91.43 rating points
2(2) AUSTRALIA 87.99
3(3) SOUTH AFRICA 84.34
4(4) ENGLAND 83.62
5(5) WALES 83.32
6(6) FRANCE 81.91
7(8) ARGENTINA 80.28
8(7) IRELAND 79.85
9(9) TONGA 76.63
10(10) SAMOA 75.81
11(12) ITALY 74.17
12(11) SCOTLAND 73.86

Speaking ahead of Ireland's final RBS 6 Nations match against Italy, hooker Rory Best said: "We took a lot of positives from the France game, we'll take those forward and build on them. We can potentially finish third in the Championship and we're looking to end the campaign with a good win in Rome."

Speaking ahead of Ireland's upcoming RBS 6 Nations encounter with France, prop Mike Ross said: "We were enormously frustrated after the Scottish game. We're playing at home (this Saturday), it's a big source of pride for us. We want to get back to winning ways. Even though the Championship is gone, it's our home patch and you want to win every time you pull on the green jersey."

Irish Rugby TV caught up with Jenny Murphy at the Ireland Women's Sevens training camp. We spoke to the centre about the pool draw for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow, the difference between Sevens training and regular training and we look forward to the game against France at Ashbourne RFC on Friday.

Speaking ahead of Ireland's upcoming RBS 6 Nations clash with France, hooker Rory Best said: "We still have two games left to play and we have to make sure we finish well. It's going to be a tough challenge against France. But we're back at home, it's a sell-out and we need to make sure we put away the chances we create more efficiently than we have done."