Rankings Incentive For Ireland

Brian O’Driscoll and his Ireland side have been given an extra incentive to defeat World champions England at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

Should Celtic rivals Wales repeat their 1999 and 2001 successes and beat France in Paris tomorrow, then the winner of the Ireland-England clash will automatically assume fourth place in the new IRB World Rankings – to be released on Monday afternoon.

An Irish win, with France also prospering, would see Eddie O’Sullivan’s men remain in in their current position of fifth.

England – who dropped to sixth following their 18-17 loss at the hands of the French – will reclaim fourth if they garner a 15-point victory in Dublin.

The Irish squad went through a light training session at Lansdowne Road this morning, with captain O’Driscoll – who is set to skipper his country for the 20th time – showing no affects of the hamstring injury which kept him out of the 40-13 defeat of Scotland, two weeks ago.

IRB WORLD RANKINGS: (February 14, 2005)

(1) New Zealand 90.90 rating points
(2) Australia 88.58
(3) South Africa 85.78
(4) France 85.12
(5) Ireland 83.61
(6) England 83.50
(7) Wales 79.58
(8) Argentina 77.63
(9) Fiji 74.17
(10) Scotland 73.94