Wales not only secured the Triple Crown for the first time ever at Twickenham following their 19-12 victory over England on Saturday, but have also climbed above their neighbours into fifth in the latest IRB World Rankings.
The late try by replacement Scott Williams keeps Wales on track for the Grand Slam and has almost halved their deficit to South Africa in fourth, a spot that will be hotly contested over the coming months with everyone eager to be in the top band of seeds for the RWC 2015 Pool Allocation Draw.
IRB World Rankings – 27 February 2012
| Position (last week) | Member Union | Rating Point |
|---|---|---|
| 1(1) |  NEW ZEALAND |
91.43 |
| 2(2) |  AUSTRALIA |
87.99 |
| 3(3) |  FRANCE |
85.06 |
| 4(4) |  SOUTH AFRICA |
84.34 |
5(6)  |
 WALES |
82.62 |
6(5)  |
 ENGLAND |
81.34 |
| 7(7) |  ARGENTINA |
80.28 |
| 8(8) |  IRELAND |
79.44 |
| 9(9) |  TONGA |
76.63 |
| 10(10) |  SAMOA |
75.81 |
| 11(11) |  SCOTLAND |
74.94 |
| 12(12) |  ITALY |
73.33 |
| 13(13) |  CANADA |
72.92 |
| 14(14) |  JAPAN |
70.45 |
| 15(15) |  GEORGIA |
69.32 |
| 16(16) |  FIJI |
68.78 |
England had themselves been closing the gap to South Africa slowly, but the first loss under interim coach Stuart Lancaster means they now lie almost equidistant between Wales above them and Argentina below in seventh.
These were the only positional changes in the rankings as a result of the third round of RBS Six Nations action, although France and Ireland did improve their ratings slightly after overcoming Scotland and Italy respectively.
France, the highest ranked northern hemisphere nation in third, had to dig deep to beat Scotland 23-17 at Murrayfield on Sunday, a result which increasing their slender cushion over South Africa to seventh tenths.
Scotland’s fifth successive Test defeat does not alter their position of 11th, but slips them further behind Samoa. This leaves only Italy, of the 12 nations to qualify automatically for RWC 2015, below them after they suffered a heavy 42-10 loss to Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
The victory leaves Ireland in eighth, comfortably above Tonga below them but still eight tenths adrift of Argentina. Ireland, though, will be hoping to improve their position when they travel to France for their rearranged Six Nations match on Sunday.
Wales, though, were not the only team on the rise in the IRB World Rankings as Romania have also climbed one to 17th, swapping places with USA, after beating Russia 25-0 in their European Nations Cup encounter in Sochi. The defeat was a costly one for Russia as they have fallen two places to 22nd with Namibia and Uruguay the beneficiaries.
Spain have also improved their rating by six tenths after overwhelming Ukraine 41-6 in Division 1A, but they remain nearly three points below USA. Ukraine remain 32nd after the defeat, but now have only a two-tenth cushion over Zimbabwe below.
The other European Nations Cup matches over the weekend did not have any impact on the IRB World Rankings, Georgia beating Portugal 32-7 in Division 1A and Belgium overwhelming the Netherlands 58-3 in Division 1B.
We are a massive 7 points behind New Zealand.
HM you have some work mate.
So by the way did i miss the appointment of Heynecke,s assistants?
Surely WE must know, its our rights.
IRB rankings , some scenarios. This was before this weekends games
For Wales to climb into what will be the top band of seeds for the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool Allocation Draw in December, they not only need France to lose but to do so by more than 15 points or for the Dragons to beat England by that margin.
If they fail to do so, though, they will not slip from their ranking of sixth, regardless of the margin of defeat, but could be left sitting just seven tenths above Argentina. England cannot improve their position with victory, unless third ranked France lose.
In these circumstances, a French loss will see them fall out of the top four, slipping below South Africa and England who would take on the mantle as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings.
Scotland have the biggest potential for gain this weekend, if they can find a way to cross the try-line and upset Les Bleus, with a victory lifting them two places to ninth, above Tonga and Samoa. They could climb another place if Ireland lose heavily to Italy in Dublin.
Italy have not beaten Ireland since they joined the Six Nations, although they did come close in Rome 12 months ago. If they can break their duck then they will climb above a losing Scotland to 11th, condemning the Scots to their lowest ever ranking.
Ireland will still retain eighth place unless they were to lose by more than 15 points at the Aviva Stadium, a scenario which would see them fall below Tonga and slip out of what will be the second band of seeds for the Pool Allocation Draw.
Ninth place would become the lowest position occupied by Ireland since the IRB World Rankings were introduced in October 2003, but it could theoretically get worse if Scotland were to also beat France because this would drop the Irish to 10th.
OK this did not happen.
1@ superBul:No announcement yet. I see that Paul Treu (has been touted as an assistant), says that he hasn’t been approached yet. He says that he bumped into HM last week, but that nothing was mentioned.
Wales are showing the signs of being a well coached team they seem to have some really good coaching system at the moment that has allowed bright new players to almost seamlessly be brought into the team. At the start of this years 6 nations I thought the title would go to France or Ireland as thought Wales just had too many injuries to too many key players, eg. first few games they played with 3rd choice lock and a loosie (Ryan Jones) as the other lock but they seem to have overcome this fairly well and guess its now a fight between themselves and France for the title.
Having said all above though there is also the element of luck or good fortune, yes call me irrational, that sometimes can tip the balance in many sports and Wales benefited from this against Ireland to win a tight game that should have been Irelands. When the Welsh player went off for the tip/spear tackle I couldn’t believe it wasn’t a straight red and said that he will probably get back on the field after a nice 10 minute rest and help Wales win when they should have been a man down for the rest of the game, it got even worse for Ireland as their guy got unfairly blown for a tip tackle and carded right at the end, to me its was just a really hard legal tackle and the Welsh player was lifted by the sheer force of it, so from this Wales got the match winning penalty and now are on still on course to win the tournament. Reffing like that is so influential and in this case may even not only contribute to a team winning a game they shouldn’t have but possibly even a whole tournament, so hopefully France will go and win it fair and square. My thoughts on the two ‘tip tackle’ incidents were justified when after match hearings gave Welshman Bradley Davies a ban and the Irish Stephen Ferris was let off.
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