Ireland may have claimed the scalp of their Rugby World Cup 2015 opponents France at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday but the 18-11 victory was not enough to return them to third place in the latest World Rugby Rankings.
The Irish lost their mantle as the leading northern hemisphere team in the rankings last weekend when, despite victory over Italy in Rome, they were overtaken by RWC 2015 hosts England on the back of their win over Wales in Cardiff.
Ireland’s victory over France – who they will face in Pool D along with Italy, Romania and Canada later this year – has cut the deficit to England to 0.17 rating points ahead of the Six Nations meeting between the two sides in Dublin on 1 March.
England were also victorious on Saturday, but the 47-17 win over Italy at Twickenham had no impact on the rating of either side as a result of the 11 places and nearly 15 points separating the two sides in the rankings.
Wales did improve their rating by just over a point on the back of a 26-23 win over Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday, but they remain sixth and still 1.24 points behind Australia. Their cushion over France, their next opponents, has grown from a few tenths to over 1.6 points.
A second defeat of the Six Nations for Scotland does not see them fall from ninth.
European Nations Cup change
The only positional change after the six matches over the weekend came as a result of Germany’s 46-22 loss to Russia in their European Nations Cup 2016 Division 1A encounter in Pforzheim on Saturday.
Germany’s second loss on their return to the top tier sees them fall three places to 28th with Zimbabwe, Hong Kong and Moldova the beneficiaries of Russia’s victory at the Sudwest Energie Stadion.
The victory wasn’t quite enough for Russia to regain the 19th place they had lost on the back of their loss to Spain a week earlier, but the Bears now sit just one hundredth of a rating point below their RWC 2015 repechage conquerors.
Georgia remain the highest ranked of all the European Nations Cup teams in 15th, but for the second weekend in a row their victory – this time 20-15 over 23rd ranked Portugal in Tbilisi – had no impact on their rating.
Romania, who like Georgia are counting down to RWC 2015, did improve their rating by 0.19 points with a 29-8 victory over Spain at the Cluj Arena. Spain remain 21st, but their deficit to Russia above them has now increased.