Saturday’s 19-18 defeat of Scotland means the gap between Ireland and fourth-placed South Africa in the IRB World Rankings is down to a mere 0.06 rating points.
Eddie O’Sullivan’s Triple Crown winners have fourth place in their sights ahead of next weekend’s Six Nations finale.
In the latest release of rankings, there were two changes in the top ten with England climbing up to sixth on the back of their gritty 26-18 victory over France last Saturday – asa result, Argentina drop a place to seventh.
France’s defeat means their points total is down to 85.66, with third-placed Australia now only trailing Bernard Laporte’s side by 0.11 points.
Ireland’s next opponents Italy have swapped places with Wales to occupy eighth spot. The Azzurri had a dramatic 23-20 win over Wales in Rome last weekend.
IRB WORLD RANKINGS (Released on March 12):
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 94.59 Rating Points
2(2) FRANCE 85.66
3(3) AUSTRALIA 85.55
4(4) SOUTH AFRICA 84.71
5(5) IRELAND 84.65
6(7) ENGLAND 80.61
7(6) ARGENTINA 79.61
8(9) ITALY 76.05
9(8) WALES 75.00
10(10) SCOTLAND 73.94
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