Ireland Move Above England In World Rankings
Ahead of the sides’ RBS 6 Nations showdown at Croke Park on Saturday week, Ireland have leapfrogged England in the International Rugby Board’s latest World Rankings. Ireland are now ranked in world rugby’s top six for the first time since September 2007.
Ireland’s win over Italy in Rome on Sunday not only took them to the top of the RBS 6 Nations table on points scored differential, but also saw them climb one place to sixth in the latest IRB World Rankings.
Three second half tries at the Stadio Flamino helped Ireland to a 38-9 victory over Italy which, allied to England’s 23-15 loss in Cardiff on Saturday evening, saw the two sides who meet in round three on February 28 swap places.
Ireland now sit just over a tenth above England, but trail fifth-ranked Argentina by almost a point with defending Six Nations champions Wales another point clear in fourth position.
England, by contrast, have seen their advantage over France cut to less than half a point as a consequence of losing to Wales and Les Bleus’ 22-13 win over Scotland at the Stade de France.
Scotland remain ninth after the Paris loss, but more than three points behind their conquerors and only two tenths above Fiji.
Italy are still 11th following the loss to Ireland, but slip slightly closer to Samoa beneath them.
IRB WORLD RANKINGS (As of Monday, February 16):
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 92.68 rating points
2(2) SOUTH AFRICA 89.45
3(3) AUSTRALIA 85.86
4(4) WALES 82.51
5(5) ARGENTINA 81.56
6(7) IRELAND 80.49
7(6) ENGLAND 80.37
8(8) FRANCE 79.10
9(9) SCOTLAND 75.47
10(10) FIJI 75.24
11(11) ITALY 73.28
12(12) SAMOA 72.57
13(13) TONGA 70.05
14(15) CANADA 69.12
15(14) GEORGIA 68.48
16(17) ROMANIA 68.17
17(16) JAPAN 68.05
18(18) RUSSIA 65.32
19(19) USA 63.55
20(20) URUGUAY 62.78
* Last week’s positions in brackets