World Rankings - things just got interesting

First topic message reminder :

With the World Cup still a few weeks away, it's nice to try and apply some context to the week's matches.

When the official rankings come out on Monday, New Zealand will be top with 89.04, Wales will be second with 88.89 then Ireland (88.69), England (87.34), South Africa (86.83) and Australia (84.41).

Ireland don't play next week and South Africa play Argentina at home next week. Argentina are ranked so low now that a win would not allow South Africa up the rankings, and they can only lose points if they fail to win. The other two games of note are NZ at home to Australia and Wales at home to England.

There's a miniscule gap between NZ and Wales, and as Wales are playing a higher ranked team, any Wales win will see them officially ranked number 1 in the published rankings. Conversely if England beat Wales by 16+ points, England will be ranked number 1. Both these outcomes exist outside of NZ's sphere of influence.

If NZ beat Australia they'll be on 89.28 points. If they thrash Australia, they'll be on 89.40 points.

A Wales win would take them up to 89.43 points and a thrashing of England would take them to 89.71. Either of these would be more than NZ could muster against Australia.

An England win would see England up to 88.79, which is less than NZ after any kiwi win. However, an England thrashing of Wales would see them up to 89.52, and therefore above anything NZ could achieve.

England could also top the rankings with any win, if NZ fail to win against Australia. A draw against Australia would see NZ drop to 88.28 points and a loss would see them fall further. A narrow England win and an NZ draw or loss would see England top the rankings therefore.

The eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed that "NZ fail to win - 88.28" would see NZ drop below Ireland, who would therefore rise to second. Ireland could even top the rankings if Wales and England then drew, as England would take enough points from Wales to drag them below Ireland but not enough to themselves get above Ireland.

If NZ lose at home to Australia, they would drop to third with a Wales win or 4th with a draw or an England win. If they suffered a second successive thrashing, they'd fall to 6th below Australia and South Africa. You can file that last scenario in "unlikely", but that would probably be their worst ever position.

Below the top 6 you've got Scotland and France in 7th and 8th. The winner of their game will be ranked higher at the end of the week, although neither can catch the top 6 or drop below those below them.

Open a new thread

SecretFly wrote:It's a bad day for World Rugby when you're even denied a gloating thread After winning a few games.

Despicable!

I see the Irish gloating thread got closed down.... on account of some Welsh lads showing up and ruining it.

Where do we go now to boast about how sweet life will be after we win the World Cup.... for the second time in a row in 2023?

I think it was shut after the English and Irish joined in!

Old Man wrote:Open a new thread

.... and destroy/negate my right to moan?

Hmmmm....not sure that's a good enough trade off......

SecretFly wrote:

Old Man wrote:Open a new thread

.... and destroy/negate my right to moan?

Hmmmm....not sure that's a good enough trade off......

You can always find something else to moan about tomorrow, after we’re talking World Rugby here, just the myriad of opportunities to discuss variable law interpretations should have you salivating

Ireland no longer ranked No 1. Unless NZ lose in their remaining pool metches they will enter the knockout stages with the No1 ranking.

Ireland no longer ranked No 1.




hmmm did not last long did it . Ireland being no 1 i mean.

Well, at least they have been number one in the last 15 years.

Surely now the WC has actually started no-one gives two sheets about rankings...?

Is it still double ranking points during the World Cup?

And the All Blacks get to no.1 without beating the no.1 team in the rankings. Farce!

The Oracle wrote:

SecretFly wrote:It's a bad day for World Rugby when you're even denied a gloating thread After winning a few games.

Despicable!

I see the Irish gloating thread got closed down.... on account of some Welsh lads showing up and ruining it.

Where do we go now to boast about how sweet life will be after we win the World Cup.... for the second time in a row in 2023?

I think it was shut after the English and Irish joined in!

So now the English and Irish are being racially discriminated against, we can no longer voice our opinions.

Shutting the tread now, it will be detention camps eventually. The majority forced to keep quiet by the every small minority. When does the ethnic cleansing start?

You been drinking?!