Ireland's victory over England in the Six Nations means they are once again the leading northern hemisphere nation in the latest World Rugby Rankings.
Ireland reclaimed the mantle as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the World Rugby Rankings after a 19-9 victory over England in the battle of the unbeaten sides in the RBS Six Nations in Dublin on Sunday.
The victory turns what was a 0.17 rating point deficit into a 1.27 cushion for Ireland over Rugby World Cup 2015 hosts England. Joe Schmidt’s side are now less than two rating points behind South Africa in second in the rankings.
Wales have increased their margin over France beneath to almost four points after a 20-13 victory over Les Bleus at the Stade de France on Saturday, although the margin was not enough to improve their position of sixth.
They now sit just a tenth behind Australia, who avoided a drop to their lowest ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003. France’s cushion over Argentina has shrunk to just over seven tenths after their second loss of the Six Nations.
Italy’s last gasp win over Scotland did not result in a positional change given the near three-point deficit to Tonga above them in 13th. That has now closed to just over a point on the back of the 22-19 victory at Murrayfield.
Scotland’s loss at home, though, has seen them fall a place to 10th with Samoa the beneficiary.
European Nations Cup surprise
There were also plenty of changes to the rankings as a result of the latest round of matches in the European Nations Cup 2016. The biggest surprise came in Krasnodar where Russia edged Division 1A leaders Romania 16-13.
Russia’s victory lifts them above Uruguay – the side that ended their RWC 2015 qualification hopes back in October – to 19th and condemns Romania to a one-place fall to 17th, dropping them below USA once more.
While Romania slipped to a first defeat of the season, their fellow RWC 2015 qualifiers Georgia replaced them at the top of the standings after a 26-13 victory over Spain in Madrid. The win improved their rating by just over four tenths but the Lelos remain 15th.
Portugal picked up their first victory – 11-3 over Germany in Lisbon – to climb one place to 22nd at the expense of RWC 2015-bound Namibia. Portugal still trail their Iberian neighbours Spain by more than three rating points.
The one other match to impact the rankings was the Division 1B match between the Netherlands and Moldova in Amsterdam. The Dutch won 18-10 to climb three places to 33rd, regaining the places they lost on the back of the previous weekend’s loss to Belgium.
Moldova fall two places to 30th as a result of the loss with Germany and Chile the beneficiaries.
The NACRA (North America Caribbean Rugby Association) Championship kicked off on Saturday with the British Virgin Islands running out 22-14 winners over St Lucia, but with both only associate members of World Rugby it had not impact on the rankings.