Ireland continue to climb rankings
Ireland's victory over England in the Six Nations means they are once again the leading northern hemisphere nation in the latest World Rankings.
Ireland reclaimed the mantle after a 19-9 victory, in the battle of the unbeaten sides in Dublin on Sunday.
The victory turns what was a 0.17 rating point deficit into a 1.27 cushion for Ireland over the 2015 World Cup hosts. Joe Schmidt's side are now less than two rating points behind South Africa in second.
Wales have increased their margin over France 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.
There were also plenty of changes to the rankings as a result of the latest round of matches in the European Nations Cup. 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.
IRB World Rankings – Top 20:
(Previous position in brackets)
1 (1) New Zealand 93.70
2 (2) South Africa 88.23
3 (4) Ireland 86.38
4 (3) England 85.11
5 (5) Australia 82.95
6 (6) Wales 82.85
7 (7) France 78.96
8 (8) Argentina 78.23
9 (10) Samoa 75.39
10 (9) Scotland 75.22
11 (11) Japan 74.70
12 (12) Fiji 74.57
13 (13) Tonga 74.12
14 (14) Italy 73.08
15 (15) Georgia 71.19
16 (17) USA 67.61
17 (16) Romania 67.03
18 (18) Canada 66.83
19 (20) Russia 64.73
20 (19) Uruguay 63.58
