Ireland may have missed out on the Six Nations title after a last gasp try by France on Saturday, but they still climb to fourth in the IRB World Rankings.
Ireland may have missed out on the Six Nations title after a last gasp try by France on Saturday, but they still climb to fourth in the IRB World Rankings.
Their 51-24 defeat of Italy at the Stadio Flaminio sees Eddie O'Sullivan's side swap places with South Africa and move closer to Australia and France above them, sides they now trail by only 0.24 and 0.35 points respectively.
New Zealand retain their lead at the top of the rankings.
Wales avoided the dreaded wooden spoon and whitewash with a 27-18 defeat of England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday, a result which sees the Welsh reclaim the eighth spot they lost following their defeat by Italy in Rome earlier in the month.
Defeat to Wales means that England fall one place to seventh in the rankings, losing the spot they took from Argentina after derailing the French Grand Slam dreams with a 26-18 victory at Twickenham on 11 March.
Scotland meanwhile remain in tenth spot in the rankings.
World Rankings
1 NEW ZEALAND 94.59
2 FRANCE 85.66
3 AUSTRALIA 85.55
4 IRELAND 85.31
5 SOUTH AFRICA 84.71
6 ARGENTINA 79.61
7 ENGLAND 79.35
8 WALES 76.26
9 ITALY 75.39
10 SCOTLAND 73.94
