World Rugby rankings

For the past three decades, the World Rugby rankings tallied the best sides on the planet. The latest Ireland rankings boost will be confirmed on Monday.

England had a series win, too, having defeated Australia 21-17 in Sydney but that only consolidated their position of fifth in the standings. That says a lot about how they are as a team and where they’re going and the belief that they’ve got. Les Bleus drop to second after that second Ireland win over New Zealand in eight days. We lost game one and our backs were against the wall. The latest Ireland rankings boost will be confirmed on Monday. This is the first time since August 2019, when Ireland beat Wales in Cardiff in a World Cup warm-up, that the men in green have topped the rankings.

Results and talking points from the final weekend of summer Tests as England and Ireland claim series victories in very different circumstances.

Head coach Galthie said of the Japan tour: “The objective with this team was to win the matches we had on the programme and that we did. And this should be of concern for Rugby Australia. Its chairman Hamish McLennan has described the next 10 years as a “golden decade” for the sport. If we take young players on tour with an eye on development, we had to succeed in bringing them to this level of performance and that is why the objective was achieved.” The bookies cut Ireland’s World Cup odds on the back of the Wellington win. That’s because England were so woeful in the Six Nations earlier this year that it led to questions about Eddie Jones’ future. And were it not for Wallabies handling errors the hosts could have been out of sight by half time. “We do have Joe Schmidt in the wings, he’ll be coming back into the team now when they go to South Africa, so we’ll just wait and see. “Have they got the right players? Have they the right head coach? Have they the right coaches? France, however, remain the frontrunners to win their first World Cup on home soil next year. It was a gripping third test and one that New Zealand would have expected to edge.

The Boks cannot improve their World Rugby ranking points, but must avoid a heavy defeat to Wales on Saturday.

- However, they could fall to seventh if they lose by more than 15 points and Scotland beat Argentina - However, the All Blacks could drop to a new low of fifth if they lose by more than 15 points, depending on the results in South Africa and Australia - The Springboks could drop another two places to fifth if they lose by more than 15 points against Wales, depending on results in Australia and New Zealand

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The Grand Slam winners beat Japan 20-15 last Saturday to take top spot after New Zealand and South Africa suffered defeats. Ireland are now second, while the All Blacks drop to fourth, an all-time low.The Springboks are ranked third, while last week’s victory over Australia moved England one place above their opponents into fifth. FRANCE became the No.1 side in the men’s world rankings for the first time in their history earlier this week.

1.Ireland – 90.03 · 2.France – 89.41 · 3.South Africa – 88.61 · 4.New Zealand – 86.93 · 5.England – 86.25 · 6.Australia – 82.17 · 7.Scotland – 81.93 · 8.Wales – 81.28.

While Saturday's 30-14 win over Wales in the third Test at the Cape Town Stadium may have won them the series 2-1, the Springboks will remain in third place ...

8. Wales - 81.28 6. Australia - 82.17 5. England - 86.25