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
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