Ireland’s Paris Success Improves Their World Rankings’ Tally

Jonathan Sexton’s last-gasp drop goal in Paris not only kept Ireland’s Grand Slam dream alive but also saw them pick up just under half a rating point to boost their World Rugby Rankings’ tally to 86.86.

The gap between Ireland in third and second-placed England is now down to a fraction over four points. England did not gain anything from a rankings perspective for their clinical 46-15 NatWest 6 Nations win over Italy in Rome, due to the 19.62-point differential between the sides before kick-off.

In turn, France’s agonising 15-13 home loss to Ireland has seen them fall to their lowest ever position of 10th since the World Rugby Rankings were introduced in October 2003. Fiji replace them in ninth to equal their highest ever ranking.

Wales have improved their ranking by one place and moved up to sixth, following their impressive 34-7 victory over Scotland in the opening game of this season’s Championship in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.

The bonus point triumph – their first since the Six Nations adopted the bonus points system last year – was worth 1.35 rating points, improving Wales’ overall points tally to 83.43, just under four-tenths less than South Africa, who take Scotland’s place in fifth. The Scots drop to seventh after the defeat.

While Uruguay’s thrilling 32-31 win over Canada in Montevideo was massive in terms of securing qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019 as the Americas 2 team, the result only improved their rating by eight-hundredths. Los Teros stay 18th with Canada three places further back in 21st.

WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS (as of Monday, February 5):

Last week’s positions in brackets –

1(1) New Zealand 93.99 rating points
2(2) England 90.87
3(3) IRELAND 86.86
4(4) Australia 85.49
5(6) South Africa 83.81
6(7) Wales 83.43
7(5) Scotland 82.75
8(8) Argentina 78.22
9(10) Fiji 77.93
10(9) France 77.62
11(11) Japan 75.66
12(12) Georgia 73.46
13(13) Tonga 71.87
14(14) Italy 71.25
15(15) Romania 69.58