England and Wales slip down IRB world rankings after defeats

England and Wales slipped one place each in the International Rugby Board world rankings after their respective defeats on Saturday.

England’s 24-21 defeat to New Zealand at Twickenham coupled with Australia’s 33-28 win over Wales in Cardiff—their 10th successive win over Wales—was enough for Michael Cheika’s team to join the All Blacks and South Africa in the top three.

Warren Gatland’s Wales drop to seventh behind France, who scored five tries in their 40-15 defeat of Fiji in Marseille as 21-year-old debutant Racing Métro winger Teddy Thomas scored a hat-trick for Les Bleus.

Ireland missed out on moving above Australia despite their shock 29-15 win over South Africa, but JP Pietersen’s last-minute try reduced the Springboks’ margin of defeat to below 15 points, keeping Joe Schmidt’s team fifth, albeit six-tenths away from third place, which they last occupied eight years ago.

Vern Cotter’s Scotland improved their rating with a 41-31 victory over Argentina, but remain eighth while Los Pumas—who could have moved seventh with an emphatic victory—stay 10th.

The only other changes in the top 10 saw Japan move from 11th to ninth without playing a Test match as a result of Argentina’s defeat and Samoa dropping two places to 11th after their 24-13 defeat by Italy, which was the Azzurri‘s first win in 2014.

Mike Tolkin’s USA Eagles were the only other nation to move up in the top 20, as they climbed two places to 6th, swapping places with Romania, their opponents in a 27-17 win in Bucharest on Saturday, while both Tonga and Canada improved their rating but remain 13th and 17th respectively.