Latest World Rugby rankings: The impact of England’s shock first-ever defeat to Italy and Scotland’s stunning win
Tommaso Menoncello of Italy celebrates and the latest World Rugby rankings
Following an epic round of the 2026 Six Nations, here’s how round four of the Championship impacted the World Rugby rankings.
The weekend’s action kicked off with Ireland and Wales going hammer and tongs at one with another, the former claiming a hard-fought 27-17 victory, setting the tone for what was to come.
The Welsh were underdogs heading into the clash, and while they weren’t able to seal a shock win, the lesser-favoured outfits on Saturday both did.
First, Scotland tore up the form book with a stunning 50-40 win over the Grand Slam-chasing France, with three late tries not only flattering the scoreline for Les Bleus but meant that they held onto fourth place in the World Rugby rankings.
Then came the biggest result of the round as Italy shocked England 23-18 in Rome, claiming their very first win in the history of the fixture.
Impact on the rankings
Andy Farrell’s charges didn’t earn any rating points for their win over Wales on Friday evening but would have still surrendered third place had France beaten Scotland at Murrayfield. Instead, Les Bleus remain in fourth and Ireland in third.
Meanwhile, Scotland earned 1.37 rating points for their win over France, which meant that they remained in seventh-place but made up significant ground on the top five and moved more than one and a half points clear of Australia in third.
The final game of the weekend produced the only change in ranking places as the Azzurri’s historic victory earned them 1.28 rating points, with England losing the same amount. While Italy remain in tenth position, Steve Borthwick’s men have now fallen to sixth, with Argentina moving into the top five.
Italy now have a massive buffer of seven rating points over 11th-placed Japan and trails ninth-placed Fiji by just 0.05 rating points.
Meanwhile, England continue to plummet as they started 2026 in third place and have surrendered three positions in four rounds of Six Nations action, and it could get worse next weekend if they fail to beat France and Scotland defeat Ireland.
Latest World Rugby Rankings
(As of 07/03/2026 after round four of the Six Nations)
1 South Africa 93.94
2 New Zealand 90.33
3 Ireland 88.89 (no change)
4 France 87.03 (-1.37)
5 (↑1) Argentina 84.97
6 (↓1) England 87.03 (-1.28)
7 Scotland 83.08 (+1.37)
8 Australia 81.53
9 Fiji 81.14
10 Italy 81.09 (+1.28)
11 Japan 74.09
12 Wales 73.62 (no change)
13 Georgia 73.48
14 Uruguay 69.19
15 Spain 68.86
16 USA 68.26
17 Portugal 66.74
18 Chile 66.72
19 Tonga 66.66
20 Samoa 66.43
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