World Rankings: All Blacks climb above Boks and Pumas rise
SPOTLIGHT: Argentina have been rewarded for their 30-29 win over England at Twickenham on Sunday with a two-place rise in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.
Los Pumas have climbed from eighth to sixth after receiving 1.80 points for the victory – only their second at English rugby’s HQ, and have overtaken Australia and Wales in the process.
New Zealand and Scotland were the other Top 10 teams to improve their positions in victory, with the All Blacks moving up one place to third at South Africa’s expense following their convincing 55-23 win against Wales in Cardiff.
South Africa had gone to Dublin looking to knock Ireland off their perch at the top of the rankings, but the home side edged an epic Test 19-16 and stay at No.1.
Wales’ defeat combined with Argentina’s Twickenham triumph and Scotland’s 28-12 win over Fiji has sent Wayne Pivac’s side down to ninth, with the Scots moving in the opposite direction up to eighth.
Italy’s impressive 49-17 win over Samoa saw their rating boosted by 1.42 points, which was enough to send them up to 12th, above their beaten opponents and also Georgia, whose total remains unchanged as their 34-18 win over Uruguay did not come with any additional points.
Fiji climbed a place even in defeat as their revised score of 74.85 points is still higher than Samoa’s.
Samoa’s heavy defeat at the hands of the Azzurri cost them 2.17 points, which gives them a new score of 74.33 points.
