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Ireland have just taken a significant step up the World Rugby rankings
By Nathaniel Cope
Six Nations champions Ireland have leapfrogged England and into second in the World Rugby rankings.
Joe Schmidt's side defeated Scotland 28-8 on Saturday, while England slumped to a 22-16 defeat against France in Paris, which resulted in a swing of 2.52 rating points in Ireland's favour.
Ireland are over six points behind world number one New Zealand, and hold a 0.35 point advantage over England ahead of their match on Saturday.
The Irish are seeking just their third Grand Slam in their history when they take on Eddie Jones' side at Twickenham.
Joe Schmidt determined to win the Grand Slam
Scotland have dropped to sixth, behind South Africa, while France moved up two spots to eighth, ahead of Argentina and Fiji.
Johnny Sexton fires word of warning ahead of Grand Slam match at Twickenham
World Rugby Rankings:
1. (1) New Zealand 93.99
2. (3) Ireland 87.85
3. (2) England 87.50
4. (4) Australia 85.49
5. (6) South Africa 83.81
6. (5) Scotland 83.80
7. (7) Wales 83.07
8. (10) France 79.44
9. (8) Argentina 78.22
10. (9) Fiji 77.93
11. (11) Japan 75.66
12. (12) Georgia 73.80
13. (13) Tonga 71.87
14. (14) Italy 71.13
15. (15) USA 69.23
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Latest Comments
Disagree.
The challenge for the All Blacks now that they have 7 of 8 starting forwards locked in and all but one bench forward (only one loose forward and bench loosie to settle on) is to sort out the starting backline as only 9 Roigard, 12 J. Barrett, 11 Clarke and 15 Jordan had good to outstanding seasons in 2024. All the other backs were inconsistent or poor and question marks going into 2025.
Go to commentshe should not be playing 12. He should be playing 10 and team managers should stop playing players out of position to accommodate libbok.
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