New World Rugby rankings don't make for pretty reading for England

The new World Rugby rankings have been released and it’s not good news for England.

Eddie Jones’ stated goal for the England was to be the number one Test side by the time the 2019 World Cup came along, instead they’ve dropped to fourth, for the first time in two years.

Things looked promising when England raced to an early 24-3 lead in Johannesburg against the Springboks, but they ended up losing 42-39 to slip to their fourth Test defeat in a row (the loss to the Barbarians is not counted).

Australia are the team to leapfrog England, into third following their 18-9 win over Grand Slam champions Ireland, who remain in second despite the defeat in Brisbane.

In ending Ireland’s 12-match winning run the Wallabies earned 1.07 points and the difference between Joe Schmidt’s side and Australia is now down to one and a half points.

And England will have to look over their shoulders as Wales are breathing down their necks too, a win of greater than 20-10 over Argentina in San Juan would have seen Warren Gatland’s side go ahead of England, but instead they trail by a mere six-hundredths of a point.

Despite South Africa’s win over England they stay seventh, behind Gregor Townsend’s Scotland, who beat Canada 48-10 in Edmonton.

Fiji have equalled their best ever World Rugby ranking, they’re up to ninth thanks to their narrow 24-22 win over Samoa in the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. Argentina’s loss to Wales see them slip to 10th.

New Zealand sit top of standings, they trailed France 11-8 at half-time in Auckland, but responded with 44 unanswered points to seal an emphatic victory.

World Cup hosts Japan remain in 11th thanks to their 34-17 win over Italy. Conor O’Shea’s side remain 14th behind Georgia and Tonga.

World Rugby Rankings:

1.(1) NEW ZEALAND 93.99
2.(2) IRELAND 88.05
3.(4) AUSTRALIA 86.56
4.(3) ENGLAND 85.19
5.(5) WALES 85.13
6.(6) SCOTLAND 83.83
7.(7) SOUTH AFRICA 83.81
8.(8) FRANCE 79.10
9.(10) FIJI 77.93
10.(9) ARGENTINA 77.54