Rugby
Wales continue rankings climb
2013-03-12 14:38
Cape Town - Wales are the only climbers on the back of the penultimate round of
Six
Nations matches, the defending champions swapping places with France to
occupy fifth place in the latest IRB world rankings.
According to the
IRB website, the Welsh ran out
28-18 winners over Scotland in a battle of the kickers
at Murrayfield and now sit just under five-tenths ahead of France, who
rescued a
13-13 draw with Ireland at the Aviva Stadium to ensure they
will not suffer a whitewash in the 2013 Championship.
Ireland remain seventh despite the draw, having avoided sliding to their
lowest ever position by avoiding defeat on home soil. Scotland remain
10th with the loss to Wales but have seen their advantage over Tonga
below halved.
England remain the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings
after surviving a second-half onslaught by Italy to win
18-11 at Twickenham on
Sunday, but the result had no outcome on either side’s rating points.
This means that England’s cushion over fifth place has shrunk slightly
to 3.52 points.
Top 20 in the latest IRB world rankings:
1. New Zealand 90.08
2. South Africa 86.943. Australia 86.87
4. England 85.30
5. Wales 81.78
6. France 81.31
7. Ireland 79.17
8. Samoa 78.71
9. Argentina 78.71
10. Scotland 77.15
11. Tonga 76.10
12. Italy 74.93
13. Fiji 71.52
14. Canada 71.41
15. Japan 70.09
16. USA 68.32
17. Georgia 67.51
18. Romania 65.97
19. Russia 62.07
20. Spain 61.02
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