IRB rankings: Wales make their move
The Welsh revival under Warren Gatland continued, with their 29-12 defeat of France at the Millennium Stadium not only securing the Six Nations Grand Slam, but also saw them move a one place up in the latest International Rugby Board (IRB) World Rankings to sixth – at the expense of Les Bleus.
Wales now occupy their highest position for two years and only one below their best ever ranking of fifth from their previous Grand Slam triumph in 2005, while France have slipped to their lowest ever placing since the rankings were introduced in late 2003.
Tries by Shane Williams and Martyn Williams ensured the celebrations could get underway in Cardiff on Saturday evening after an unbeaten run that has seen their ranking improve four places and 5.95 points since the turn of the year.
Wales are the only team in the Six Nations to have improved their ranking in 2008, with Italy having remained in 11th after finishing last. England, France, Ireland and Scotland all slipped down the rankings one or two places.
England have fluctuated between fourth and fifth over the last two months, but remain the leading northern hemisphere nation behind South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia with a 3.24 rating point cushion over Grand Slam winners Wales.
The recovery from a slow start to beat Ireland 33-10 at Twickenham resulted in only a small improvement in England’s rating points to 83.36, bringing the World Cup finalists to within a point of Australia above them and leaving Ireland still in their lowest ever position of eighth.
Scotland had begun the year ranked eighth after reaching the World Cup quarterfinals, but Andrea Marcato’s late drop goal secured a 23-20 win for Italy at the Stadio Flaminio and meant the Scots slipped back one to 10th, losing the position they had gained by beating England last weekend.
Fiji are the beneficiaries of Scotland’s third defeat in five Six Nations encounters in Rome as they return to ninth place, while Italy’s first victory under new coach Nick Mallett means they have now closed the gap to only 1.35 rating points between them and their visitors.
The Italians may not have avoided last place – they had needed to win by five points to leapfrog Scotland in the Six Nations standings – but the victorious scenes in Rome mean they have doubled their advantage over Samoa, the team below them in the IRB World Rankings.
There was one other positional change in the latest rankings with Russia climbing to a new high of 16th after four Yuri Kushnarev penalties gave them a 12-8 victory over Romania in their European Nations Cup encounter before 3,000 spectators in Krasnodar.
Russia had gone into the match trailing their visitors by 0.63 rating points, but a third successive victory on home soil in Krasnodar this month not only took them to the top of the European Nations Cup standings, but also saw them swap places with Romania.
The Russians, who lead Georgia by three points in the standings but having played a game more as the title race nears its conclusion, have now closed to within two tenths of Canada in 15th and eight tenths of their next opponents Georgia in 14th.
Top 20 on the IRB World Rankings:
(As at 17 March, with the previous week’s ranking in brackets)
1(1) South Africa 90.81
2(2) New Zealand 89.59
3(3) Argentina 87.42
4(4) Australia 84.20
5(5) England 83.36
6(7) Wales 80.12
7(6) France 79.61
8(8) Ireland 77.18
9(10) Fiji 75.88
10(9) Scotland 74.92
11(11) Italy 73.57
12(12) Samoa 71.61
13(13) Tonga 71.51
14(14) Georgia 67.83
15(15) Canada 67.25
16(17) Russia 67.07
17(16) Romania 66.17
18(18) Japan 65.35
19(19) USA 64.68
20(20) Uruguay 63.18
