Losing ground: Scotland's defeat cost them a ranking position
Related links
Teams
Also see
Scotland dropped to eleventh while Wales climbed two spots to sixth in the latest IRB world rankings following the opening round of the Six Nations.
Scotland dropped below Tonga and Samoa following their home defeat to England on Saturday.
Leigh Halfpenny's last-minute penalty to secure victory for Wales over Ireland in Dublin on Sunday means the teams swap places with the Irish falling to eighth.
Scotland's drop to eleventh equals the lowest position they have ever occupied since the IRB World Rankings were introduced in October 2003 and is the first time they have fallen outside the top 10 since the build up to World Cup 2007.
Defending champions England did improve their rating with the victory, but still remain two points behind South Africa and a place in what will become the top band of automatic qualifiers for the World Cup 2015 Pool Allocation Draw after the November internationals.
Romania improved their rating with a tight 15-7 victory over Portugal in the European Nations Cup on Saturday. The win on home soil in Bucharest only resulted in a slight improvement, enabling Romania to close to within 1.42 rating points of USA in 17th.
Portugal, who would have surged back into the top 20 with an away win, have seen their deficit to Chile doubles to 0.45 points with the loss.
IRB World Rankings:
1 New Zealand 91.43
2 Australia 87.99
3 France 84.70
4 South Africa 84.34
5 England 82.34
6(8) Wales 81.01
7 Argentina 80.28
8(6) Ireland 79.25
9 Tonga 76.63
10(11) Samoa 75.81
11(10) Scotland 75.44
12 Italy 73.99
13 Canada 72.92
14 Georgia 71.09
15 Japan 70.45
16 Fiji 68.78
17 USA 65.63
18 Romania 64.21
19 Namibia 61.24
20 Russia 60.54
21 Uruguay 60.47
22 Spain 60.33
23 Chile 59.52
24 Portugal 59.07
25 Belgium 57.02
26 Hong Kong 56.51
27 Morocco 56.13
28 Moldova 54.94
29 Poland 54.80
30 Kazakhstan 53.62
Comments
Jediboy says...
The ratings are result based, not attractiveness of play based. For what England gain in beating Scotland, Scotland lose the same. Whatever one side gains, the other loses.
Posted 11:00 08th February 2012
melkdave says...
I think the rankings are about right atm Scotland are on a par with Tonga Samoa Georgia ect on results in the last year Alsp Ireland given their results in the last year should be about 8th .As to England and Wales well remember the rankings are based on games won and lost and England have lost alot fewer games than Wales in the last year and given its such a completly differant England well no one knows how they will go atm ..France as 3rd well i think that is fair even if they where the luckiest finalists ever lol.Wonder how SA will cope this year as they will be in the same boat as England atm blooding players as they rebuild from PDVs diastraous time as manger. Think we will see them around 8-9 th this time next year imo
Posted 23:10 07th February 2012
mjdebues92 says...
@pembs - at below you mean further south.... right....
Posted 22:54 07th February 2012
pog_mahone says...
True though. How the hell are England 5th with the dross they serve up disguised as rugby?
Posted 20:53 07th February 2012
atg77 says...
Makes no sense, how can Scotland drop below Samoa when we lost to a team ranked above us?
Posted 16:20 07th February 2012
atg77 says...
How can scotland drop in the world rankings when they lost to a team ranked above them? Sorry, makes no sense at all. If Scotland played Tonga or Samoa tomorrow we'd blow them off the park. Rankings are a joke.
Posted 14:36 07th February 2012
louis77 says...
lol when england lose to italy on the weekend they will be dropped a few spots !
Posted 13:59 07th February 2012
marko72 says...
Ha Ha Ha Legend comment!
Posted 11:33 07th February 2012
Jediboy says...
I'm not that convinced by the validity of the IRB rankings. However there is a rating system so I look at it with about half on eye. Scotland must be gutted they are so low, especially when they see Tonga and Samoa above them. But all credit to Tonga and Samoa.
Posted 10:00 07th February 2012
pembs says...
These are not accurate. Moldova are below England
Posted 18:28 06th February 2012