Ireland and France both saw their dreams of a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2014 ended with defeats to England and Wales respectively over the weekend, but it was les Bleus who came off worse in the latest IRB World Rankings.
Philippe Saint-André’s men have fallen two places to seventh after the 27-6 loss to Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Friday with Ireland – despite their 13-10 loss to England at Twickenham a day later – and the Welsh both climbing one place.
The three sides are now separated by just two-tenths of a rating point with England remaining the leading northern Hemisphere nation in the rankings with a cushion that has now grown to 4.7 rating points over their rivals.
The only other positional change as a result of the third round of Six Nations matches was a one place fall for Italy after Duncan Weir’s drop goal in the dying seconds secured a 21-20 victory for Scotland at the Stadio Olimpico.
Italy swap places with Japan by a mere hundredth, a scenario which leaves the Azzurri occupying 14th position – their lowest since the IRB World Rankings were introduced in October 2003.
Scotland remain in 10th position, albeit now less than a tenth behind Argentina.
IRB WORLD RANKINGS (as of Monday, February 24):
Last week’s positions in brackets –
1(1) New Zealand 93.81 rating points
2(2) South Africa 89.34
3(3) Australia 86.88
4(4) England 85.46
5(6) IRELAND 80.76
6(7) Wales 80.60
7(5) France 80.56
8(8) Samoa 77.34
9(9) Argentina 76.44
10(10) Scotland 76.35
11(11) Fiji 74.21
12(12) Tonga 73.21
13(14) Japan 72.06
14(13) Italy 72.05
15(15) Canada 70.75
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