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Cape Town - With only two weeks to go until the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool Allocation Draw is held in London, the battle to secure the best possible IRB world ranking could go right down to the wire after Samoa upset Wales again in Cardiff.
According to the IRB website, Samoa’s 26-19 victory over Six Nations champions Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Friday lifts them one place to ninth and just 0.16 rating points away from a place in the second band of seeds for RWC 2015.
Cardiff has been a happy hunting ground for Samoa with two wins over Wales in Rugby World Cup matches, and the Welsh are now in danger of slipping out of band two after falling two places to sixth on the back of a fifth successive Test defeat.
They now travel to France to play Les Bleus - again the only northern hemisphere side to beat a touring side over the weekend - knowing that another upset could see them climb to a new high in the rankings and condemn Wales or Ireland to a band three spot.
On December 3, the IRB world rankings will be used to determine the seeding of the 12 directly qualified teams from RWC 2011 with the top four teams becoming band one and guaranteed to avoid each other until the knockout stages of England 2015.
The teams ranked five to eight will form band two and the remaining four teams band three with each band drawn randomly across the four pools for RWC 2015.
If the draw was to take place today, the bands would be as follows:
Band 1: New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, France
Band 2: England, Argentina, Ireland, Wales
Band 3: Samoa, Scotland, Italy, Tonga
France currently hold the coveted fourth spot after backing up their 33-6 rout of Australia with a hard-fought 39-22 victory over Argentina in Lille, Frédéric Michalak’s last penalty ensuring Les Bleus secured the maximum gain with victory by more than 15 points.
That kick - taking the returning flyhalf’s tally to 24 points - means France now have a 3.03 rating point cushion over England after the RWC 2015 hosts slipped to a 20-14 loss to Australia at Twickenham.
England had been the bookmakers’ favourites to beat the Wallabies on Saturday, but they missed their chance to return to the top seeding bracket, falling short against an Australian team determined to get their European tour back on track.
England have the opportunity to determine their own fate but it’s a tall order as their two remaining Tests are against the top two sides in the world with South Africa next up following by New Zealand on December 1.
South Africa strengthened their grip on second place with a 21-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. The defeat, allied with Samoa’s win, means Scotland have slipped to 10th place in the rankings.
There was better news for Ireland, despite them not being able to influence the rankings as a result of playing a non-cap match with Fiji. Argentina and Ireland both climb one place to sixth and seventh respectively as a result of Wales’ fall.
However, the sides ranked sixth to ninth are separated by just 1.1 rating points going into this weekend’s matches when Ireland tackle Argentina in Dublin, Wales host New Zealand in Cardiff and Samoa tackle France.
New Zealand marked their third anniversary atop the IRB world rankings with a 42-10 victory over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but the result at no impact on either side’s rating given the difference between them.
Top 20 in the latest IRB world rankings:
1. New Zealand 92.91
2. South Africa 86.05
3. Australia 85.94
4. France 84.99
5. England 81.96
6. Argentina 79.89
7. Ireland 79.04
8. Wales 78.95
9. Samoa 78.79
10. Scotland 77.42
11. Italy 76.61
12. Tonga 74.51
13. Canada 71.41
14. Fiji 70.60
15. Japan 70.09
16. USA 66.86
17. Georgia 66.75
18. Romania 63.58
19. Spain 63.09
20. Russia 61.49
According to the IRB website, Samoa’s 26-19 victory over Six Nations champions Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Friday lifts them one place to ninth and just 0.16 rating points away from a place in the second band of seeds for RWC 2015.
Cardiff has been a happy hunting ground for Samoa with two wins over Wales in Rugby World Cup matches, and the Welsh are now in danger of slipping out of band two after falling two places to sixth on the back of a fifth successive Test defeat.
They now travel to France to play Les Bleus - again the only northern hemisphere side to beat a touring side over the weekend - knowing that another upset could see them climb to a new high in the rankings and condemn Wales or Ireland to a band three spot.
On December 3, the IRB world rankings will be used to determine the seeding of the 12 directly qualified teams from RWC 2011 with the top four teams becoming band one and guaranteed to avoid each other until the knockout stages of England 2015.
The teams ranked five to eight will form band two and the remaining four teams band three with each band drawn randomly across the four pools for RWC 2015.
If the draw was to take place today, the bands would be as follows:
Band 1: New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, France
Band 2: England, Argentina, Ireland, Wales
Band 3: Samoa, Scotland, Italy, Tonga
France currently hold the coveted fourth spot after backing up their 33-6 rout of Australia with a hard-fought 39-22 victory over Argentina in Lille, Frédéric Michalak’s last penalty ensuring Les Bleus secured the maximum gain with victory by more than 15 points.
That kick - taking the returning flyhalf’s tally to 24 points - means France now have a 3.03 rating point cushion over England after the RWC 2015 hosts slipped to a 20-14 loss to Australia at Twickenham.
England had been the bookmakers’ favourites to beat the Wallabies on Saturday, but they missed their chance to return to the top seeding bracket, falling short against an Australian team determined to get their European tour back on track.
England have the opportunity to determine their own fate but it’s a tall order as their two remaining Tests are against the top two sides in the world with South Africa next up following by New Zealand on December 1.
South Africa strengthened their grip on second place with a 21-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield. The defeat, allied with Samoa’s win, means Scotland have slipped to 10th place in the rankings.
There was better news for Ireland, despite them not being able to influence the rankings as a result of playing a non-cap match with Fiji. Argentina and Ireland both climb one place to sixth and seventh respectively as a result of Wales’ fall.
However, the sides ranked sixth to ninth are separated by just 1.1 rating points going into this weekend’s matches when Ireland tackle Argentina in Dublin, Wales host New Zealand in Cardiff and Samoa tackle France.
New Zealand marked their third anniversary atop the IRB world rankings with a 42-10 victory over Italy at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but the result at no impact on either side’s rating given the difference between them.
Top 20 in the latest IRB world rankings:
1. New Zealand 92.91
2. South Africa 86.05
3. Australia 85.94
4. France 84.99
5. England 81.96
6. Argentina 79.89
7. Ireland 79.04
8. Wales 78.95
9. Samoa 78.79
10. Scotland 77.42
11. Italy 76.61
12. Tonga 74.51
13. Canada 71.41
14. Fiji 70.60
15. Japan 70.09
16. USA 66.86
17. Georgia 66.75
18. Romania 63.58
19. Spain 63.09
20. Russia 61.49
