Samoa climb back into top 10, IRB Ladder news

Samoa climb back into top 10

21 May 2007, IRB

Samoa’s 8-3 victory in their IRB Pacific Nations Cup opener with Fiji has seen them rise one place to 10th in the latest IRB World Rankings – a place they lost in February following Italy’s historic away victory over Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations.

Michael Jones’ side are now only one place shy of their best ever ranking, having swapped places with Scotland, who are now sitting at their lowest ever position since the rankings were introduced in 2003.

One nation who can already boast their highest ever position is Lithuania, who climbed five places to 57th following their 27-0 victory over Austria in Vienna in Division 3B of the European Nations Cup on Saturday.

Austria as a result fall eight places to 83rd – their lowest ranking since June 2004 – while Luxembourg climb two places to 81st as a result of their 22-16 victory at home against Israel in Division 3C.

Another nation on the rise after victory in the European Nations Cup this weekend are Bulgaria, who climb two places to 91st – at the expense of Vanuatu and Israel – following a 25-10 victory over Norway in Sofia to lie third in Division 3B.

Norway fall two places to 86th as a result of the loss to Bulgaria, while the home victories for Poland and Slovenia – against Malta (36-3) and Bosnia & Herzegovina (77-5) – have not effect on their rankings of 31st and 63rd.

The same is true for Portugal, who bounced back from a loss to Russia the previous weekend to beat the Czech Republic 23-3 away in Ricany. However while Portugal do not move from their 21st position, they do improve their ranking by 0.63 points to 62.03.

The IRB Pacific Nations Cup and European Nations Cup were not the only competitions to have an affect on the IRB World Rankings though, with Chinese Taipei recording two victories within the space of a week in Division 4 of the Asian Nations Series.

Chinese Taipei overpowered Pakistan 72-3 in Bangkok on Wednesday, before battling past their hosts Thailand 22-3 on Sunday. The victories see them climb one place to 41st, while Thailand fall two places to 74th with defeat.

The next seven days could see plenty more nations on the move with a packed calendar, including the IRB Pacific Nations Cup, European Nations Cup, Asian Nations Series, Africa Cup, Elgon Cup and the first summer internationals.

i love it!
i didnt even know any of these countries had a national side!

Yes, felixnelson, its great to see the other nations constant juggling for form. I try to regularly check out the IRB rankings site (URL given below). I think it gives some perspective to rugby as an international sport.

PS - when will Tassie get into the ARC, or national rugby scene at some level? They used to do OK in the old -southern states carnivals and juniors, or are they all just poached to VIC like the footy players?

http://www.irb.com/EN/World+Rankings/

I thought tassie had a team in the ARS???
Great to see the world involved in rugby, where else do they play AFL again???

Yeah, Tassie were included in last years expansion in the ARS however they got absolutely flogged so this year, while they at least still get to play (unlike WA and the title holders...), their match results don't count on the table and they aren't playing NSW & Qld Country.
Hopefully the exposure will continue to lift the profile of this minor sport in Tassie.
I would think that South Australia or SA/Northern Territory will be amongst any future expansion of the ARC at Provincial level as both have very strong local Unions and there is also a reasonably strong comp based out of Alice Springs.
However, I think any of that will be some time off before we see firstly any expansion and secondly expansion other than around Sydney, Brisbane, Regional NSW, Regional Qld or Perth in that order.

Interestingly Frontrow, they do play Australian Rules in some pretty obscure countries and I recall in 2005 they gathered for the 2nd International Cup with a finishing order of:
1 New Zealand
2 Papua New Guinea
3 USA
4 Ireland
5 Samoa
6 Great Britain
7 Canada
8 South Africa
9 Japan
10 Spain
Other countries I was surprised to know had an Aussie Rules presence included; Fiji, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, Wales, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Bermuda and Chile.
Now admittedly in most of those countries it is barely a minor sport and is driven by a handful of ex-pats, the point is that some of those countries are being targeted by the AFL, specifically South Africa in the first instance, for expansion.
It is the actions that the AFL take in Australia that is any threat to Rugby Union however, it is interesting to know that they are not satisfied with just dominating the Australian market, they are indeed looking beyond our shores.

Well i'll be buggered, i didn't know that...Still, a few ex pats running around a foreign country doesn't necessarily constitute a league....But i see your point, they indeed have thier eyes on a bigger picture, and have a better grasp of what needs to be done at home...