IRB World Rankings

[neiliog93]

In fairness looking at those rankings you'd only need to swap Argentina up one place for Wales for them to be accurate. Lower down you'd probably have to move Fiji, Italy and Scotland ahead of Japan, world cup heroics and all.

[simonokeeffe]

In fairness looking at those rankings you'd only need to swap Argentina up one place for Wales for them to be accurate. Lower down you'd probably have to move Fiji, Italy and Scotland ahead of Japan, world cup heroics and all.

yup, how soon til we get an ensconsed SH top 4

[Xanthippe]

In fairness looking at those rankings you'd only need to swap Argentina up one place for Wales for them to be accurate. Lower down you'd probably have to move Fiji, Italy and Scotland ahead of Japan, world cup heroics and all.

yup, how soon til we get an ensconsed SH top 4

That's an interesting one because Argentina have made a funny decision in relation to their points standing - I wonder if they fully thought it out. The 'new' Americas Rugby Championship started at the weekend and Argentina are represented through their A team. They lost one full ranking point this weekend because the USA managed to get a 35 all draw with them!!

[neiliog93]

Is that team officially a full Argentina national side but in reality domestic-based amateur players? Why don't they just call it 'Argentina XV' or play the 'Argentina Jaguars' (i.e Argentina 'A') instead in order to avoid losing ranking points??

[Dave Cahill]

They lost one full ranking point this weekend because the USA managed to get a 35 all draw with them!!

Not according to the WR site

[Oldschool]

Don't know who this is going to upset most but It's fair to say Argentina will be hit for a few sixes in the forcoming Championship, ie normal service resumed.
Our little holiday to SA should be very informative too.

[neiliog93]

Don't know who this is going to upset most but It's fair to say Argentina will be hit for a few sixes in the forcoming Championship, ie normal service resumed.
Our little holiday to SA should be very informative too.

I'm actually quietly confident about that tour. RSA had a poor RWC, the weather allowed them to artificially compete vs a below par All Blacks. They could easily have lost to Wales if it weren't for a defensive lapse by the ever unreliable Alex Cuthbert. We don't need to mention Japan. They'll have a new coach bedding in too, so they won't be well organised. Meanwhile we'll have a lot of frontliners coming back from injuries, well-rested and eager for a bit of action before the season's close.

[Xanthippe]

They lost one full ranking point this weekend because the USA managed to get a 35 all draw with them!!

Not according to the WR site

That's interesting - when the updated rankings came out at lunchtime they had Argentina down to 81.59 and USA up to 69.66 but they've reversed the changes since. I tweeted them earlier at lunchtime to ask them to confirm that caps and ranking points would be awarded to Argentina A bit they didn't answer me!!

[simonokeeffe]

Don't know who this is going to upset most but It's fair to say Argentina will be hit for a few sixes in the forcoming Championship, ie normal service resumed.
Our little holiday to SA should be very informative too.

I'm actually quietly confident about that tour. RSA had a poor RWC, the weather allowed them to artificially compete vs a below par All Blacks. They could easily have lost to Wales if it weren't for a defensive lapse by the ever unreliable Alex Cuthbert. We don't need to mention Japan. They'll have a new coach bedding in too, so they won't be well organised. Meanwhile we'll have a lot of frontliners coming back from injuries, well-rested and eager for a bit of action before the season's close.

it could be two fairly inexperienced teams facing each other, could be exciting

[Oldschool]

Timing is everything.
Scotland played and beat France and boosted their ranking points.
The following week we played and beat Scotland and thus gained a better points tally than would otherwise have been the case had the two weekends been reversed.
It could be important come RWC seeding time.

[wixfjord]

Don't know who this is going to upset most but It's fair to say Argentina will be hit for a few sixes in the forcoming Championship, ie normal service resumed.
Our little holiday to SA should be very informative too.

I'm actually quietly confident about that tour. RSA had a poor RWC, the weather allowed them to artificially compete vs a below par All Blacks. They could easily have lost to Wales if it weren't for a defensive lapse by the ever unreliable Alex Cuthbert. We don't need to mention Japan. They'll have a new coach bedding in too, so they won't be well organised. Meanwhile we'll have a lot of frontliners coming back from injuries, well-rested and eager for a bit of action before the season's close.

it could be two fairly inexperienced teams facing each other, could be exciting

Jaysus I'd say ours will be fairly experienced. I'd say pretty close to a first team, unless Sexton or Ross is given a rest.

[simonokeeffe]

I cant see anyone starting the Pro 12 final starting the 1st test*
Plus 2nd test is at altitude so you could send a 2nd test advance party up earlier to acclimatise
again, big question though of who gets rested after long season

without opening political can of worms, with retirements, European exodus, possibly Coetzee as new coach, there could be a lot of 'transformation' in SA team as well as turnover

*Murray, Jackson, Earls, McCloskey, Payne, Trimble, Zebo
Healy, Best, Moore, Henderson, Ryan, POM. JVDF, Stander,
Cronin, Cronin, Furlong, Dillane, TOD, Marmion, Madigan, Bowe

[Xanthippe]

World rankings (men) after weekend games

1 New Zealand 96.10
2 Australia 87.56
3 England 86.37
4 South Africa 85.66
5 Argentina 82.59
6 Wales 82.49
7 Ireland 82.33
8 France 78.36
9 Scotland 78.32
10 Fiji 77.13
11 Japan 77.07
12 Georgia 72.70
13 Tonga 71.43
14 Italy 70.78
15 Samoa 70.29
16 Romania 67.95
17 USA 65.68
18 Canada 64.24
19 Russia 63.56
20 Uruguay 63.23


From the final whistle of the Australia v England game until the final whistle of our game, South Africa were actually up to 2nd place but dropped back to 4th.

[Ruckedtobits]

Thanks Xan, great work. The French decline is finally beginning to register in a real way and if Scotland register their expected victory against Japan, France could slide out of Top 10 for first time ever, if they lose their two-Test series against Argentina and Fiji beat beat Georgia.

[simonokeeffe]

Thanks Xan, great work. The French decline is finally beginning to register in a real way and if Scotland register their expected victory against Japan, France could slide out of Top 10 for first time ever, if they lose their two-Test series against Argentina and Fiji beat beat Georgia.

More worryingly if France drop out of top 8 they become nasty tier 3 team at rwc
Top 4 looks hard for us to do unless theres a combo of we win one more v Boks and they have a stinker of a year in general and maybe we beat NZ

in the words of Rory Bremner doing Barry Norman: and why not?

[simonokeeffe]

Rwc seedings draw is May 2017 btw

[Xanthippe]

Thanks Xan, great work. The French decline is finally beginning to register in a real way and if Scotland register their expected victory against Japan, France could slide out of Top 10 for first time ever, if they lose their two-Test series against Argentina and Fiji beat beat Georgia.

More worryingly if France drop out of top 8 they become nasty tier 3 team at rwc
Top 4 looks hard for us to do unless theres a combo of we win one more v Boks and they have a stinker of a year in general and maybe we beat NZ

in the words of Rory Bremner doing Barry Norman: and why not?

If the unthinkable were to happen and we won the series 3-0 we'd move above South Africa so depending on other results we could actually come home in 4th

Btw, after the ladies in the World Cup and the Puppies yesterday I reckon a game on neutral ground 'could' be the best place for us to look for our first ever win against BNZ

[simonokeeffe]

You could be on to something there. Did an Ireland schools or 18s team beat NZ too or am I imagining that?

I can see SA having a hard time in Rugby championship, 2 wins at most out of 6

[Xanthippe]

World rankings after weekend games

1 New Zealand 96.10
2 England 88.50
3 South Africa 86.03
4 Australia 85.43
5 Argentina 82.87
6 Wales 82.49
7 Ireland 81.96
8 Scotland 79.50
9 France 78.09
10 Fiji 77.14
11 Japan 75.89
12 Georgia 73.57
13 Italy 71.57
14 Tonga 70.56
15 Samoa 70.27
16 Romania 68.74
17 Canada 65.19
18 USA 64.89
19 Uruguay 63.56
20 Russia 62.62

[Ruckedtobits]

But they are playing in Argentina. No easy task!