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England's alarming drop in World Rugby rankings as Wales make leap
By Online Editors
Wales have moved up to their highest position in the World Rugby rankings since October 2015, while England have dropped again, to their lowest point since March 2016.
Warren Gatland's team beat Argentina 30-12 in Sante Fe to seal a 2-0 series win, their first there since 1999.
Wales had started 2018 seventh in the rankings, but are now third. They're still some way behind second-placed Ireland, who beat Australia 26-21 in Melbourne.
Ireland's victory saw them pick up 1.15 rating points and are a sizeable three-and-a-quarter points ahead of Warren Gatland's side.
Australia's defeat saw Michael Cheika's side drop to 4th in the standings.
The bad news for England keeps coming, they're now down in sixth following their fifth Test defeat in a row. South Africa jump ahead of Eddie Jones' side into fifth after their 23-12 victory in Bloemfontein.
Scotland's embarrassing 30-29 defeat to the USA in Houston cost them two full rating points and they slip back to seventh, while the USA stay 15th.
France, Fiji, Argentina, Japan and Georgia are unchanged while Italy are up one to 13th thanks to their 25-22 win over Japan in Kobe.
New Zealand's 26-13 win over 14-man France sees them remain top.
World Rugby Rankings:
1. (1) NEW ZEALAND 93.99
2. (2) IRELAND 89.20
3. (5) WALES 85.94
4. (3) AUSTRALIA 85.41
5. (7) SOUTH AFRICA 84.65
6. (4) ENGLAND 84.35
7. (6) SCOTLAND 81.83
8. (8) FRANCE 79.10
9. (9) FIJI 78.51
10. (10) ARGENTINA 76.73
11. (11) JAPAN 74.20
12. (12) GEORGIA 74.18
13. (14) ITALY 72.56
14. (13) TONGA 71.88
15. (15) USA 71.39
16. (17) ROMANIA 68.25
17. (16) SAMOA 68.24
18. (18) URUGUAY 65.37
19. (19) RUSSIA 64.89
20. (20) SPAIN 63.09
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