England and Argentina neck and neck

November 13 2008

Argentina will be aiming for a return to the top four of the IRB World Rankings when they face Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin on Saturday after slipping to fifth the following their loss to France last week.

The Pumas will need more than a simple victory to move back into the leading quartet though as the current holders of fourth place, England could confirm their position with victory over Australia at Twickenham.

With the IRB World Rankings as they stand on November 30 being used to seed the 12 teams who have qualified automatically for RWC 2011 for the Pool Allocation Draw in London the following day, every result takes on added significance.

If England follow up their 39-13 win over the Pacific Islanders with another victory over Australia then they could potentially climb another place to third, albeit only if they beat the Wallabies by more than 15 points.

By contrast a convincing win for Australia and England's advantage over France would halve to 1.45 rating points. Les Bleus' match with the Pacific Islanders this weekend in Sochaux does not count towards the rankings.

Australia could themselves climb one place, providing they beat England and world champions South Africa suffer a first loss to Scotland in six years. In this event South Africa would slip beneath the Wallabies into third and Scotland would climb above Ireland into eighth.

If Ireland can record their first ever victory over New Zealand they would close in on Wales in seventh. A win for the All Black would see them maintin their comfortable lead at the top of the rankings.

Wales cannot improve their rating points with victory over 15th ranked Canada at the Millennium Stadium on Friday, even with a repeat of their 42-17 victory at RWC 2007. A loss, though, and they slip to within four tenths of Ireland while Canada leapfrog Georgia and Tonga.

The final potential for change in the top ten is if Italy repeat their 13-12 victory over Argentina when the sides last met in Córdoba in June, although this would again depend on the outcome of Scotland's match with South Africa at Murrayfield.

An Italian win and heavy loss for Scotland would see the two nations close to within a few hundredths of each other, but were Italy to also win by more than 15 points then they could jump not only above the Scots, but also above Ireland into eighth with Argentina slipping another place below France.

On a downside for Italy, who were beaten 30-20 by Australia last weekend, if they suffer a defeat by the Pumas, they will slip out of the top ten for the first time since July 2007 with Fiji replacing them.

IRB World Rankings:

1(1) New Zealand 92.41

2(2) South Africa 88.28

3(3) Australia 85.65

4(5) England 83.16

5(4) Argentina 82.22

6(7) France 80.13

7(6) Wales 79.58

8(8) Ireland 77.18

9(9) Scotland 76.92

10(10) Italy 75.24

11(11) Fiji 75.24

12(12) Samoa 72.57

13(13) Tonga 70.05

14(14) Georgia 69.43

15(15) Canada 69.12

16(16) Japan 67.35

17(17) Romania 67.20

18(18) Russia 64.63

19(20) USA 64.25

20(19) Uruguay 62.55

With thanks to the IRB