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England could fall four places in World Rugby Rankings this weekend
By Kim Ekin
Wales could climb above England in the World Rugby Ranking this weekend, if they beat Eddie Jones’ men by more than 15 points in Twickenham this weekend.
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England could in fact drop from third to seventh, depending on this weekend’s results.
Wayne Pivac’s men travel to London as both sides look to get their Six Nations campaigns back on track after losing their first round matches, while wanting to build on second-round victories.
England will surrender third place if they fail to beat their Welsh counterpart and either France avoid defeat against Scotland or Ireland beat Italy.
Wales will climb two places to sixth if they beat England and Scotland lose to France. In that scenario England would drop to fifth.
Crucially, Wales will be the higher-ranked of the two nations if they win by more than 15 points and will climb as high as fifth if they beat England that amount of points and there are draws in the other two Six Nations fixtures. Third or fourth is possible, depending on their margin of victory and other results.
In fact, England could drop as low as seventh if a loss by more than 15 points is combined with a Scottish victory over France.
Gregor Townsend’s Scotland will climb above the Wallabies into sixth with victory over France and would equal their record high of fifth place if Ireland also lose to Italy.
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Meanwhile, Ireland cannot improve their rating with victory over Italy due to the 15.49 rating points between the sides before home weighting is factored in. However, a victorious Ireland will climb above a France side beaten in Scotland.
In the Rugby Europe Championship, the continent’s second Tier Test competition, Spain must beat Romania by more than 15 points to become the higher ranked of the two nations as a smaller margin will leave them 0.02 rating points behind. In this event, the sides will swap places with Spain taking over 15th – their highest ever ranking – and Romania falling to 17th.
Romania will drop below Tonga if beaten by Spain, who themselves will fall at least two places to 19th – below USA and Uruguay – in defeat, three if Portugal also beat the Netherlands. The Oaks cannot improve on 15th place even with victory by more than 15 points, but would close to 0.32 rating points of Italy above.
