Welsh ranking hopes dashed by Australia

Dec 2 • General News, International, World Rugby • 1871 Views • Comments Off on Welsh ranking hopes dashed by Australia

With the northern hemisphere autumn international programme finally drawing to a close, Wales are the only movers in the latest IRB World Rankings, dropping one place to sixth.

With only three international fixtures over the weekend, the focus was on the pulsating encounter between Wales and the touring Australians at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Wales’ ninth successive defeat by the Wallabies means their ranking points total falls 0.79, allowing France, despite having completed their fixtures for the year, to go fifth thanks to an unchanged points total.

Wales began the autumn series in sixth, so while recent results were a missed chance to climb the rankings, they were also an opportunity to consolidate.

Their two wins – against Argentina and Tonga – and two defeats – against South Africa and Australia – largely echoed recent form.
Fitting finale

For Australia, the last match of the autumn tour was a fitting finale to a tour in which the Wallabies got better as they went on.
After sustaining defeat by England in their first match of the tour, the Wallabies have steadily reasserted themselves to finish the trip on a high note.

Beginning the autumn series fourth in the world, the Wallabies lost ground on England after that Cook Cup result.
But as the tourists gained momentum with wins over Italy, Ireland and Scotland, they reclaimed their world No.3 spot from England, where they finish the year behind fellow southern hemisphere heavyweights New Zealand and South Africa.

The two other international fixtures of the weekend do not affect the IRB World Rankings: Fiji’s 43-19 reverse against the Barbarians (because the latter are an invitational side) and the 22-8 win for Cyprus over Austria in European Nations Cup Division 2C (because Cyprus are not full an IRB member union).

IRB World Rankings – 02 December 2013
Position (last week) Member Union Rating Point
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 93.81
2(2) SOUTH AFRICA 89.34
3(3) AUSTRALIA 86.88
4(4) ENGLAND 85.70
5(6) FRANCE 80.87
6(5) WALES 80.19
7(7) IRELAND 79.33
8(8) SAMOA 77.34
9(9) SCOTLAND 76.56
10(10) ARGENTINA 76.44
11(11) FIJI 74.21
12(12) TONGA 73.21
13(13) ITALY 73.13
14(14) JAPAN 72.06
15(15) CANADA 70.75
16(16) GEORGIA 69.07
17(17) ROMANIA 67.47
18(18) USA 67.41
19(19) RUSSIA 61.14
20(20) URUGUAY 60.77
21(21) SPAIN 60.62
22(22) PORTUGAL 59.37
23(23) NAMIBIA 58.79
24(24) KOREA 58.10
25(25) BELGIUM 57.52
26(26) GERMANY 56.20
27(27) CHILE 55.44
28(28) MOLDOVA 55.11
29(29) HONG KONG 54.56
30(30) ZIMBABWE 53.56
31(31) NETHERLANDS 52.86
32(32) POLAND 52.32
33(33) UKRAINE 52.17
34(34) KENYA 51.75
35(35) MOROCCO 51.18
36(36) MADAGASCAR 51.13
37(37) BRAZIL 50.95
38(38) PARAGUAY 50.09
39(39) SWITZERLAND 49.83
40(40) SRI LANKA 49.66
41(41) SENEGAL 48.68
42(42) SWEDEN 48.64
43(43) MALTA 48.61
44(44) TUNISIA 48.25
45(45) KAZAKHSTAN 48.11
46(46) COOK ISLANDS 47.11
47(47) IVORY COAST 47.04
48(48) CZECH REPUBLIC 47.00
49(49) ISRAEL 46.83
50(50) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 46.38
51(51) UGANDA 46.36
52(52) LITHUANIA 46.06
53(53) BERMUDA 45.53
54(54) PAPUA NEW GUINEA 45.27
55(55) SINGAPORE 44.54
56(56) CROATIA 44.42
57(57) PHILIPPINES 44.09
58(58) CHINESE TAIPEI 43.41
59(59) THAILAND 43.37
60(60) COLOMBIA 43.33
61(61) GUYANA 43.19
62(62) ANDORRA 42.62
63(63) CAYMAN 42.52
64(64) VENEZUELA 41.67
65(65) HUNGARY 40.81
66(66) CHINA 40.73
67(67) NIUE ISLANDS 40.45
68(68) SOLOMON ISLANDS 40.35
69(69) LATVIA 40.34
70(70) MALAYSIA 40.20
71(71) DENMARK 40.14
72(72) PERU 40.13
73(73) BARBADOS 39.68
74(74) MEXICO 39.38
75(75) INDIA 39.37
76(76) BOTSWANA 38.58
77(77) PAKISTAN 38.38
78(78) CAMEROON 38.33
79(79) NIGERIA 37.92
80(80) SERBIA 37.81
81(81) JAMAICA 37.08
82(82) ZAMBIA 36.94
83(83) ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES 36.84
84(84) SLOVENIA 36.46
85(85) AUSTRIA 35.94
86(86) GUAM 35.70
87(87) BAHAMAS 35.68
88(88) SWAZILAND 35.63
89(89) BULGARIA 35.42
90(90) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 35.41
91(91) TAHITI 35.37
92(92) MONACO 35.17
93(93) LUXEMBOURG 34.61
94(94) VANUATU 33.45
95(95) NORWAY 32.71
96(96) GREECE 30.49
97(97) AMERICAN SAMOA 30.00
97(97) INDONESIA 30.00
97(97) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 30.00
100(100) MAURITIUS 29.29
101(101) FINLAND 27.92