Worcester and Clermont reach Challenge Cup quarter-finals

You still only lose ranking points if you’re beaten by a team that you could conceivably beat, hence why Italy lose no points when beaten by South Africa. Wales entering the RWC in 2027 in a group full of teams better than them would mean that they would lose no points, or only a very small amount of points, by being beaten, but would have the potential to drastically improve their ranking with just a single upset win.

E.g. using today’s ranking points, lets imagine Wales drew Ireland, Fiji, and Romania in their pool, losing against the first two but beating Romania, then lost to France in the R16. The worst case scenario (losing to Fiji, Ireland, and France by more than 15 points, and beating Romania by less than 15) would only lose Wales 0.66 points. The alternate scenario (coming within 15 points of Fiji and beating Romania by more than 15) would lose Wales just 0.29 points. The dream scenario of Wales securing a narrow win over Fiji would improve Wales’ score by 3.37 points, although I cba factoring in how that would impact Wales’ draw in the knockouts. Feel free to check these calculations yourself at the website called “World Rugby Rankings Calculator”, which is easily found through google but which I don’t think I can link to directly on here.

Its worth remembering that England finished 3rd at the world cup and Ireland lost in the QFs, but because England had a much easier draw than Ireland they finished the tournament ranked 5th, and Ireland 2nd. Overall the rankings do a pretty great job of fairly reflecting how well teams have played.

Discuss.

I actually thought Ed was Irish on that basis. That’s how wild and all over the place he’s predictions were/are!

The 6Nations should never be a farmers comp where a team can win 3 in a row (France look good though) but back-to-back slams would have been a fine achievement for that Irish team and they were within a whisker of it. England deserved it though on the day.

Ireland didn’t recover from it and were extremely shaky and unconvincing against Scotland in the final round, Scotland even literally handing them 7 PTS.

Maybe Ed was out in temple bar on the rip? Wearing his Sexton Jersey and arguing with himself in the middle of the street?

And yes, pretty sure cj will have the freedom of Ireland anytime he wants it…

He has to be English although he seems to hate every team equally. Even his own?

If he’s not English, it means he is unaffiliated which should prevent him from rinsing others for being unaffiliated. Obviously, it doesn’t stop him.

Even money he is an AI algorithm albeit good craic.

I’ll pick him up from the airport. The least I can do for him after all those English men he folded in two.