Ireland's first victory over Australia at a Rugby World Cup has been rewarded with a two-place rise to sixth in the latest IRB World Rankings, lifting them above Wales and Scotland.
The hard-fought 15-6 victory at Eden Park on Saturday sees the Irish regain two of the four places dropped after losing all four of their warm-up matches in August.
A bigger winning margin could have lifted Ireland to third but the defeat was enough to see Australia surrender second spot to South Africa.
Fiji climb one place to 14th as a result of Tonga's defeat to Canada earlier in the week. Tonga are the week's biggest fallers, dropping three places to 15th after the 25-20 loss.
Canada's victory lifts them to 11th from 14th.
Samoa's first ever loss to Wales in a Rugby World Cup saw them slip two places to 12th with Italy the other beneficiary despite not playing a match in the last seven days.
The other nation on the rise are USA following their 13-6 victory over Russia. The Eagles' first win on the Rugby World Cup stage since 2003 lifts them one place to 17th.
Russia were not as fortunate, their RWC debut defeat by USA resulting in a two-place fall to 21st with Namibia and Portugal the beneficiaries.
IRB World Rankings
1 New Zealand 90.55
2 South Africa 86.71
3 Australia 84.84
4 England 83.99
5 France 83.78
6 Ireland 82.50
7 Wales 80.73
8 Scotland 79.12
9 Argentina 77.30
10 Italy 73.88
11 Canada 73.74
12 Samoa 73.59
13 Japan 71.95
14 Fiji 71.01
15 Tonga 70.30
16 Georgia 70.00
17 USA 66.38
18 Romania 65.69
19 Namibia 61.24
20 Portugal 60.67
With thanks to the IRB
Comments
HappyCanuck says...
a couple of clarifications:
- the rankings are updated weekly on Monday, not after each match (but you can calculate the pending change after each match easily enough if you wish)
- I believe the reason that the effects are doubled during RWC is because each country is (supposedly) fielding their best team and putting in maximum effort, unlike some tests, so the scores are a more accurate indicator of their relative strength; I'm not sure I follow how this benefits the SH teams
- the standings mean rather a lot to some of the minnows (like my beloved Canucks) as they are more likely to get matches with high-ranked opposition if they are closer in the table - aside from the expectation that the game will be more useful to both squads, a team that is ranked more than 10 points higher than its opposition cannot gain ranking points from the match, only lose them, and may therefore be reluctant to participate (although I admit that this is not likely to be a serious concern)
Posted 06:12 22nd September 2011
12Counties says...
@leinster_goy: they do if you're trying to get into the top 4 or top 8 before the next world cup draw!
Posted 14:00 20th September 2011
leinster_goy says...
@12counties
the standings mean nothing anyway
Posted 12:46 20th September 2011
12Counties says...
do the IRB really need to update the rankings after every single match? Can't we just wait until the tournament is finished, as standings mean absolutely nothing mid-competition....
Posted 10:36 20th September 2011
melkdave says...
Its possiable because you get double ranking points at a RWC and bonuses if the team you beat is ranked higher its one of the reasons the SH teams are always 1-2-3 and why the rankings arnt the best indicator of a teams real standing
Posted 23:38 19th September 2011
APV1 says...
Imagine the chaos if that meant that Russia had to fly home and Portugal had to send their team out?
Posted 17:35 19th September 2011