All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan has listed his five best sides in the world at the moment following a thrilling Six Nations Championship.
France claimed the title after securing four wins, with their last-gasp 48-46 victory over England snatching the silverware from Ireland’s grasp.
Andy Farrell’s men thought they had done enough having defeated Scotland earlier on Super Saturday, but Thomas Ramos’ penalty with the clock in the red sparked jubilation in Paris.
While it resulted in Six Nations success for Les Bleus, it was not enough to move them above the Irish in the World Rugby rankings.
Ireland remain in third, one-and-a-half points ahead of the French in fourth, with the Springboks and All Blacks still one and two in the standings respectively.
England’s fall
England went into the tournament in the top three but they have been knocked down to sixth, behind Argentina, following four successive defeats with Scotland and the Wallabies in seventh and eighth.
Kirwan sees it slightly differently from the official rankings, however, controversially having New Zealand above South Africa after Dave Rennie’s appointment as All Blacks head coach, although you suspect he was deliberately stirring the pot.
Behind the southern hemisphere giants reside the Six Nations top two but in a different order to World Rugby with the former wing believing that France are ahead of Ireland.
Fifth place was more difficult but one team who wasn’t in the conversation for Kirwan was England, despite going into the tournament with 11 wins in a row.
Their poor performances and results meant that it was between Scotland and the Wallabies for that spot, with Argentina also not considered.
“The thing that worries me about the northern hemisphere at the moment, although the rugby’s great, is the inconsistency,” he said on the Rivals podcast.
“My top five would obviously be All Blacks, Springboks, France, Ireland and then on their day would it be Aussie or Scotland? That would be my five.”
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The All Blacks are in Kirwan’s top two despite their underwhelming 2025, which resulted in the sacking of Scott Robertson.
Rennie has taken over as the head honcho and the 61-year-old is positive about the upcoming year, believing that the Super Rugby franchises have raised their standards since that appointment.
“Super Rugby has been good as well. Super Rugby at the highest level has been really good. The intensity’s back and I don’t know from the New Zealand teams whether it’s because we’ve got a new coach, which always motivates you,” he said.
“Super Rugby’s been really good and really intense with high class games like before South Africa left.”
Springboks legend’s verdict
Springboks legend Victor Matfield then had his say, perhaps wisely ignoring Kirwan’s bait about the order of New Zealand and South Africa but focusing more on the France and Ireland battle.
Matfield talked up Les Bleus before the Six Nations, predicting that they would be the Boks’ biggest threat at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
While that might still be the case, the former lock believes Fabien Galthie’s side have slipped behind the Irish.
“I was like, ‘France is the team to beat’, but at the moment I’m not quite getting that feeling. I think Ireland has probably gone past them in the Six Nations,” Matfield said.
“What I’ve seen from Ireland in the last two games, they’re really up there again. They’re confident, they’re playing, they know how they want to play.
“You need a 12 in the modern game to get you over that advantage line and [Stuart] McCloskey’s been doing that. With [Jack] Crowley getting more confident and taking the ball to the line and playing like Ireland want to play, I think Ireland is getting more dangerous again.”