Ireland Climb Back To Seventh In Rankings

After the first round of RBS 6 Nations matches, there were two climbers in the top 10 of the IRB World Rankings.

Wales, the 26-13 conquerors of Scotland at Murrayfield, have risen to their highest ever position of fourth.

The four-try win over the Scots saw Warren Gatland’s men move above Argentina, who are now fifth, with an advantage now of 0.34 points.

Ireland, the only other team to make a move, have swapped places with France to move into seventh after ending a seven-match losing streak against les Bleus with a 30-21 victory at Croke Park on Saturday.

Ireland had cemented their eighth place ranking in November, gaining themselves a second seeding for the Rugby World Cup draw.

The last time the men in green were ranked seventh was last March during the 2008 Six Nations.

In the latest rankings, England remain in sixth, over a point above Ireland, after beating Italy 36-11 at Twickenham on Saturday to only improve their rating by 0.12.

The Italians stay 11th, sandwiched between Fiji and Samoa.

France may have slipped one place to eighth and their lowest ever position, but they still have a cushion of almost three rating points over Scotland, who themselves edged back towards Fiji as a result of losing at home to Wales.

IRB WORLD RANKINGS (As of Monday, February 9):

1(1) NEW ZEALAND 92.68 rating points 
2(2) SOUTH AFRICA 89.45
3(3) AUSTRALIA 85.86
4(5) WALES 81.90
5(4) ARGENTINA 81.56
6(6) ENGLAND 80.98
7(8) IRELAND 79.25
8(7) FRANCE 78.68
9(9) SCOTLAND 75.89
10(10) FIJI 75.24

– Last week’s position in brackets