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Australia up to second in rankings
25 JUNE 2007, IRB.com
Scott Staniforth’s try not only proved Australia’s match winner in their Tri Nations encounter with New Zealand on Saturday, but also saw the Wallabies regain second place in the latest IRB World Rankings.
Australia had gone into the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ranked fourth, some 11.22 ranking points behind New Zealand at the top with France and South Africa separating the Trans Tasman rivals.
However Australia’s victory, secured with tries by Adam Ashley-Cooper and Staniforth while All Black prop Carl Hayman was in the sin-bin, saw them increase their total by 1.73 points to 86.53 to move ahead of both France and South Africa.
Australia had previously occupied second spot only last month, but dropped to fourth after Francois Steyn’s two late drop goals snatched a 22-19 victory for South Africa in the opening Tri Nations match of 2007.
The defeat for the All Blacks, only their fourth since 2004 and first by anyone other than the Springboks, still leaves them with a commanding lead at the top of the IRB World Rankings, although now only 6.77 ranking points above Australia on 93.30.
This was the only change in the IRB World Rankings, India’s 11-3 defeat of the Philippines in the Asian Nations Series having no affect as the latter only have a provisional ranking as they are yet to play 10 international matches.
IRB World Rankings 02/07/2007
Position (last week) Member Union Rating points
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 93.30
2(4) AUSTRALIA 86.53
3(2) FRANCE 85.66
4(3) SOUTH AFRICA 85.44
5(5) IRELAND 82.52
6(6) ARGENTINA 82.43
7(7) ENGLAND 78.93
8(8) WALES 76.26
9(9) ITALY 75.53
10(10) SAMOA 74.97
11(11) SCOTLAND 73.94
12(12) FIJI 70.52
13(13) CANADA 70.06
14(14) TONGA 67.52
15(15) USA 67.20
16(16) ROMANIA 66.79
17(17) GEORGIA 66.38
18(18) JAPAN 65.85
19(19) RUSSIA 64.37
20(20) URUGUAY 63.29
AUS (on 86.53 points) at home -vs- SAF (on 85.44 points)
Possible Outcome/Rating Point Exchange/New AUS Rating/New SAF Rating/Will SAF overtake AUS?
If AUS win by 1-15 points 0.591 87.12 84.85 No
If AUS win by more than 15 0.886 87.42 84.55 No
If result is a draw 0.409 86.12 85.85 No
If SAF win by 1-15 points 1.409 85.12 86.85 Yes
If SAF win by more than 15 2.114 84.42 87.55 Yes