How the RWC changed the IRB Rankings

Newly crowned world champions New Zealand remain on top of the IRB World Rankings following their 8-7 victory over France in the RWC 2011 Final last weekend, but the tournament did see a number of changes over the seven weeks.

Aside from the All Blacks, who lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for a second time some 24 years after the first success – also at France’s expense, there are only two other sides who ended Rugby World Cup 2011 in the position they began it.

The other two are bronze medallists Australia and quarter-finalists England, who remain second and fifth respectively despite both being on the move during the tournament, the Wallabies slipping to third after defeat by Ireland and the English rising to fourth and also falling to sixth.

IRB WORLD RANKINGS BEFORE RWC 2011
1 NEW ZEALAND 90.55
2 AUSTRALIA 88.84
3 SOUTH AFRICA 85.69
4 FRANCE 83.78
5 ENGLAND 82.89
6 WALES 80.79
7 SCOTLAND 78.83
8 IRELAND 78.50
9 ARGENTINA 78.40
10 SAMOA 74.54
11 ITALY 73.88
12 TONGA 72.48
13 JAPAN 71.95
14 CANADA 71.56
15 FIJI 70.83
16 GEORGIA 70.30
17 ROMANIA 65.69
18 USA 65.00
19 RUSSIA 61.92
20 NAMIBIA 61.42

IRB WORLD RANKINGS AFTER RWC 2011
1 NEW ZEALAND 91.43
2 AUSTRALIA 87.42
3 FRANCE 84.70
4 SOUTH AFRICA 84.34
5 ENGLAND 81.58
6 IRELAND 80.65
7 ARGENTINA 80.28
8 WALES 80.18
9 TONGA 76.63
10 SCOTLAND 76.20
11 SAMOA 75.81
12 ITALY 73.99
13 CANADA 72.92
14 GEORGIA 71.09
15 JAPAN 70.45
16 FIJI 68.78
17 USA 65.63
18 ROMANIA 63.98
19 NAMIBIA 61.24
20 PORTUGAL 60.67
21 RUSSIA 60.54


http://www.rugby.com.au/News/NewsArt...0/Default.aspx

interesting that wales dropped to 8th. would have thought that they would have at least stayed the same.

I think the thing with Wales was that even though they made it to the Semi they still lost 3 games during the RWC which meant they lost a lot of points and so finishing up in 6th position. England held onto 5th because they only lost 1 game during the tournament it’s a funny system...