World Rugby Rankings

DUBLIN, IRELAND – SEPTEMBER 07: Rob Kearney of Ireland scores a try during the Guinness Summer Series match between Ireland and Wales at Aviva Stadium on September 7, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

World Rugby rankings: Ireland move to the top of the tree

Ireland top the World Rugby Rankings after beating Wales 19-10 in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up Test.

World Rugby Rankings

DUBLIN, IRELAND – SEPTEMBER 07: Rob Kearney of Ireland scores a try during the Guinness Summer Series match between Ireland and Wales at Aviva Stadium on September 7, 2019 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

For nearly a decade the top spot on World Rugby’s Rankings has belonged exclusively to the All Blacks but the position has changed three times in the last five weeks.

Ireland have now overtaken both New Zealand and Wales to top the global body’s controversial rankings system. Wales have fallen below the Springboks into fifth position after three successive Test defeats.

Saturday’s 19-10 victory over Wales was worth just over sixth-tenths of a rating point to Ireland and improves their overall tally to 89.47 points, while the All Blacks remain on 89.40 points following their emphatic 92-7 win against Tonga at Eden Park in Auckland in which winger George Bridge bagged four tries.

In Dublin, Rob Kearney and Hadleigh Parkes traded first-half tries before scores from Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan helped to give captain Rory Best and head coach Joe Schmidt a winning send-off in what was their final home test.

From being top of the rankings just three weeks ago, back-to-back defeats to Ireland and a win for the Springboks against Japan have led to Six Nations Grand Slam winners Wales slipping to fifth. Wales now find themselves on 87.32 points, just two-hundredths of a point fewer than the Springboks in fourth place.

Winger Makazole Mapimpi scored a hat-trick while Cheslin Kolbe bagged a brace and replacement scrum-half Herschel Jantjies added another late on to take his overall tally to four tries in as many tests as South Africa laid out a real statement of intent ahead of Rugby World Cup in front of a 24,000 crowd in Kumagaya.

The half a point gained in victory was not enough, however, for the Springboks to catch England, whose 37-0 win over Italy at St James’ Park went unrewarded due to there being just over 16 rating points between the teams.

Meanwhile, Australia’s 34-15 win over Samoa did not affect the rankings with the sides staying in sixth and 16th place respectively.

Outside of the top 10, though, a couple of teams benefitted from the US Eagles’ hard-fought 20-15 win over Canada in Vancouver.

Canada led 12-10 at the break but second-half tries from Dylan Fawsitt and Martin Iosefo saw the Eagles extend their unbeaten run against their North American rivals to 12 matches and also lifted them one place above Italy to 13th in the rankings. With the defeat costing Canada the best part of a quarter of a point, they now slip below Portugal to 22nd place.

World Rugby Rankings

POSITIONTEAMSPOINTS
1(2) IRELAND89.47
2(1) NEW ZEALAND89.40
3(3) ENGLAND88.13
4(5) SOUTH AFRICA87.34
5(4) WALES87.32
6(6) AUSTRALIA84.05
7(7) SCOTLAND81.00
8(8) FRANCE79.72
9(9) FIJI77.43
10(10) JAPAN76.70
11(11) ARGENTINA76.29
12(12) GEORGIA73.29
13(14) USA72.18
14(13) ITALY72.04
15(15) TONGA71.04
16(16) SAMOA69.08
17(17) SPAIN68.15
18(18) ROMANIA66.69
19(19) URUGUAY65.18
20(20) RUSSIA64.81
21(22) PORTUGAL61.33
22(21) CANADA61.12
23(23) NAMIBIA61.01
24(24) HONG KONG59.64
25(25) NETHERLANDS58.46
26(26) BRAZIL57.84
27(27) BELGIUM57.35
28(28) GERMANY54.96
29(29) CHILE54.56
30(30) SWITZERLAND53.19
31(31) KOREA53.11
32(32) COLOMBIA51.92
33(33) ZIMBABWE51.74
34(34) KENYA51.44
35(35) POLAND50.59
36(36) LITHUANIA49.45
37(37) UKRAINE49.25
38(38) CZECHIA49.05
39(39) MALTA48.82
40(40) TUNISIA48.53
41(41) UGANDA47.84
42(42) PHILIPPINES47.77
43(43) COTE D’IVOIRE47.57
44(44) MEXICO47.55
45(45) PARAGUAY46.90
46(46) SRI LANKA46.69
47(47) CROATIA46.52
48(48) MOROCCO46.33
49(49) MALAYSIA46.12
50(50) SWEDEN45.98
51(51) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO45.51
52(52) MADAGASCAR45.34
53(53) COOK ISLANDS45.11
54(54) SENEGAL44.82
55(55) MOLDOVA44.06
56(56) SINGAPORE43.97
57(57) LATVIA43.44
58(58) CAYMAN ISLANDS42.99
59(59) LUXEMBOURG42.55
60(60) GUYANA42.40
61(61) ISRAEL42.17
62(62) VENEZUELA41.87
63(63) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES41.25
64(64) KAZAKHSTAN40.85
65(65) ZAMBIA39.12
66(66) CHINESE TAIPEI39.10
67(67) JAMAICA39.00
68(68) HUNGARY38.95
69(69) BERMUDA38.91
70(70) NIGERIA38.41
71(71) SLOVENIA37.77
72(72) BOTSWANA37.64
73(73) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA36.97
74(74) GUAM36.40
75(75) THAILAND36.23
76(76) ANDORRA36.16
77(77) PERU36.13
78(78) DENMARK35.72
79(79) ST VINCENT AND GRENADINES34.91
80(80) CHINA34.85
81(81) BARBADOS34.72
82(82) TAHITI33.79
83(83) BAHAMAS33.76
84(84) PAPUA NEW GUINEA33.68
85(85) SERBIA33.45
86(86) INDIA33.07
87(87) BULGARIA33.07
88(88) AUSTRIA32.56
89(89) SWAZILAND32.04
90(90) FINLAND31.64
91(91) UZBEKISTAN31.63
92(92) GHANA31.18
93(93) MAURITIUS30.56
94(94) PAKISTAN30.40
95(95) NORWAY29.81
96(96) RWANDA29.78
97(97) COSTA RICA29.57
98(98) NIUE ISLAND28.63
99(99) CAMEROON26.33
100(100) SOLOMON ISLANDS23.81
101(101) MONACO23.17
102(102) GREECE22.55
103(103) INDONESIA21.89
104(104) VANUATU21.45
105(105) AMERICAN SAMOA19.53

The World Rugby Rankings are updated weekly with the latest rankings published every Monday.