Four-year anniversary for All Blacks

Editor

New Zealand’s victory over England consolidated their position at the summit of the IRB World Rankings in the latest list released on Monday.

The All Blacks have occupied top spot since 16 November 2009 and for more than 80 per cent of the time since the rankings were introduced in October 2003, and the recent success means they now boast 93.81 ranking points.

This means a slight increase in their cushion over South Africa – pushing it beyond five rating points – after the Springboks ran out 28-0 winners over Scotland on Sunday. This latest win increases South Africa’s advantage over England in third to more than more than three points.

England have now finished their November internationals and are in danger of losing that third spot, sitting as they do just five hundredths above Australia, who have two matches remaining after beating Ireland 32-15 in Dublin.

Defeat means the men in green slide from sixth to seventh, swapping places with Wales, who beat Argentina 40-6 win at the Millennium Stadium to record their first November international victory in four years.

Otherwise the top 10 is unchanged, with the Pumas holding their position of 10th despite the defeat in Cardiff.

France’s 38-18 win over Tonga in Le Havre has no bearing on either side’s rating as a result of the eight places and more than eight rating points separating the two teams. However, Tonga do climb one place to 12th as a result of Fiji’s 37-31 defeat in Italy.

Romania are steadily inching up the rankings after beating Canada 21-20 with practically the last kick of the game – as they had done against Tonga a week before.

The result lifts them one place to 16th at the expense of Georgia, whose match against USA also came down to the wire, the Eagles winning 25-23 after landing a penalty with the final act of the match. It was Eagles’ first victory of 2013, but despite the 1.7 rating point gain they remain 18th.

IRB World Rankings
(Previous position bracketed)

1(1) New Zealand 93.81
2(2) South Africa 88.77
3(3) England 85.70
4(4) Australia 85.65
5(5) France 81.44
6(7) Wales 80.98
7(6) Ireland 79.33
8(8) Samoa 79.24
9(9) Scotland 76.99
10(10) Argentina 75.23
11(11) Italy 74.34
12(13) Tonga 73.21
13(12) Fiji 72.87
14(14) Japan 71.72
15(15) Canada 70.40
16(17) Romania 68.81
17(16) Georgia 67.17
18(18) USA 66.61
19(19) Russia 61.94
20(20) Spain 60.95

With thanks to the IRB