Martin Johnson England

Johnson's England are up to fourth

They may not have fielded their best line-up but Ireland’s 10-6 defeat to Scotland in their first Rugby World Cup 2011 warm-up match at Murrayfield on Saturday has proved costly with a two-place fall to sixth in the latest IRB World Rankings.

The defeat means Declan Kidney’s men are no longer the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings behind New Zealand, Australia and South Africa – a position they have held since ending England’s hopes of a Six Nations Grand Slam back in March.

England now occupy fourth spot following their 23-19 victory over Wales at Twickenham on Saturday, while France also climb one to fifth despite not being in action over the weekend, Marc Lièvremont’s men only resuming their preparations with the visit of Ireland to Bordeaux this Saturday night.

Wales remain seventh despite the loss to England, while the margin of victory was not big enough for Scotland to improve their position of ninth, although they have slashed the deficit to Argentina above them to only four tenths.

At the top of the IRB World Rankings, New Zealand have slightly increased their cushion over Australia after preserving a 25-year winning streak over the Wallabies at Eden Park with a 30-14 victory in their Tri Nations encounter on Saturday.

The gain was only marginal though at seven hundredths with the All Blacks’ cushion over their trans Tasman rivals now having grown to 6.68 points as the Wallabies head to Durban to face South Africa in match four of the 2011 Tri Nations.

Three other sides counting down the days until Rugby World Cup 2011 kicks off on 9 September were also in action over the weekend with Canada edging their neighbours USA 28-22 in Toronto and Argentina beating a South American XV 78-15 in San Juan.

Canada’s victory on home soil was not by a big enough margin to improve their ranking of 16th, although they have closed to within 0.12 rating points of Georgia above them. The USA Eagles remain 17th, albeit now 3.8 points behind Canada ahead of the return match in Denver this Saturday.

IRB World Rankings – 08  August  2011

Position (last week) Member Union Rating Point
1(1) NZL.gifNEW ZEALAND 93.26
2(2) AUS.gifAUSTRALIA 86.58
3(3) RSA.gifSOUTH AFRICA 85.24
4(5) arrow_up_blue.gif ENG.gifENGLAND 82.89
5(6) arrow_up_blue.gif FRA.gifFRANCE 82.06
6(4) arrow_down_red.gif IRE.gifIRELAND 81.29
7(7) WAL.gifWALES 79.14
8(8) ARG.gifARGENTINA 78.97
9(9) SCO.gifSCOTLAND 78.57
10(10) SAM.gifSAMOA 74.55
11(11) ITA.gifITALY 73.54
12(12) JPN.gifJAPAN 72.56
13(13) TGA.gifTONGA 71.80
14(14) FJI.gifFIJI 71.52
15(15) GEO.gifGEORGIA 70.30
16(16) CAN.gifCANADA 70.18
17(17) USA.gifUSA 66.38
18(18) ROM.gifROMANIA 65.57
19(19) RUS.gifRUSSIA 61.93
20(20) NAM.gifNAMIBIA 61.43
21(21) POR.gifPORTUGAL 60.67
22(22) URU.gifURUGUAY 60.00
23(23) CHL.gifCHL 59.52
24(24) ESP.gifSPAIN 59.43
25(25) BEL.gifBELGIUM 56.50
26(26) MAR.gifMOROCCO 56.11
27(27) HKG.gifHONG KONG 54.49
28(28) MDA.gifMOLDOVA 54.10
29(29) BRA.gifBRAZIL 54.04
30(30) CZE.gifCZECH REPUBLIC 53.78
31(31) KAZ.gifKAZAKHSTAN 53.66
32(32) KOR.gifKOREA 53.51
33(33) UKR.gifUKRAINE 53.34
34(34) POL.gifPOLAND 52.88
35(35) ZIM.gifZIMBABWE 52.40
36(36) TUN.gifTUNISIA 52.24
37(37) GER.gifGERMANY 51.83
38(38) LTU.gifLITHUANIA 51.49
39(39) SWE.gifSWEDEN 50.99
40(40) KEN.gifKENYA 49.18
41(41) PAR.gifPARAGUAY 48.84
42(42) NED.gifNETHERLANDS 47.71
43(43) UGA.gifUGANDA 47.69
44(44) CIV.gifIVORY COAST 47.52
45(45) SRI.gifSRI LANKA 47.24
46(46) PNG.gifPAPUA NEW GUINEA 46.19
47(47) BER.gifBERMUDA 45.94
48(48) TRI.gifTRINIDAD & TOBAGO 45.85
49(49) SIN.gifSINGAPORE 45.75
50(50) CRO.gifCROATIA 45.56
51(51) SEN.gifSENEGAL 45.24
52(52) MLT.gifMALTA 45.23
53(53) COK.gifCOOK ISLANDS 44.61
54(54) MAD.gifMADAGASCAR 44.31
55(55) SUI.gifSWITZERLAND 44.22
56(56) TPE.gifCHINESE TAIPEI 43.93
57(57) VEN.gifVENEZUELA 42.88
58(58) AND.gifANDORRA 42.83
59(59) LAT.gifLATVIA 42.69
60(60) GUY.gifGUYANA 42.54
61(61) PER.gifPERU 41.98
62(62) CHN.gifCHINA 41.93
63(63) MAS.gifMALAYSIA 41.84
64(64) THA.gifTHAILAND 41.74
65(65) COL.gifCOLOMBIA 41.73
66(66) CAY.gifCAYMAN 41.23
67(67) NIU.gifNIUE ISLANDS 41.11
68(68) ISR.gifISRAEL 41.05
69(69) SRB.gifSERBIA 40.81
70(70) DEN.gifDENMARK 40.60
71(71) SVN.gifSLOVENIA 40.20
72(72) HUN.gifHUNGARY 40.10
73(73) ZAM.gifZAMBIA 39.94
74(74) SVG.gifST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 39.30
75(75) IND.gifINDIA 39.22
76(76) BRB.gifBARBADOS 39.13
77(77) SOL.gifSOLOMON ISLANDS 39.06
78(78) CAM.gifCAMEROON 38.33
79(79) AUT.gifAUSTRIA 37.76
80(80) BUL.gifBULGARIA 37.12
81(81) SWZ.gifSWAZILAND 36.68
82(82) BWA.gifBOTSWANA 36.68
83(83) JAM.gifJAMAICA 36.35
84(84) BHS.gifBAHAMAS 36.33
85(85) GUM.gifGUAM 36.25
86(86) PYF.gifTAHITI 36.25
87(87) BIH.gifBOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 36.18
88(88) NGA.gifNIGERIA 35.29
89(89) MON.gifMONACO 35.17
90(90) NOR.gifNORWAY 35.02
91(91) VAN.gifVANUATU 34.77
92(92) LUX.gifLUXEMBOURG 32.49
93(93) FIN.gifFINLAND 27.70