WORLD RANKINGS: Boks' win helps Wallabies
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Springboks’ 42-39 win over England did their Southern Hemisphere counterparts Australia a world of good.
The jubilant Springboks picked up just over one rating point for the home win but stay in seventh place behind Scotland, the Scots having beaten Canada 48-10 in Edmonton.
The result saw England drop to four, while Australia moved into third.
The Wallabies edged out Ireland 18-9 in a titanic tussle in Brisbane. The victory ended Ireland’s 12-match winning run and help Michael Cheika’s side pick up 1.07 points which take them above England and into third.
For now, Ireland are safe in second place, behind New Zealand who turned in a second-half masterclass to beat France 52-11, but the difference between the Six Nations champions and the Wallabies is now down to one and a half points.
The All Blacks scored 44 unanswered points in the second half in Auckland to start their international season with a bang. However, the win did not come with any reward from a rankings point of view due to the near 15-point gap between themselves and Les Bleus who threatened to cause an upset when they led 11-8 at half-time.
Fiji equal their best-ever position of ninth after benefitting from Argentina’s home defeat to Wales.
John McKee’s side maintained their rating score of 77.93 points with an edgy 24-22 victory over Samoa in the opening round of the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup.
Source: @WorldRugby
