{"id":462074,"date":"2026-02-06T10:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462074\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T10:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T10:22:08","slug":"france-rise-above-ireland-in-world-rugby-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462074\/","title":{"rendered":"France rise above Ireland in World Rugby Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/antonie-dupont-world-cup.jpg\" alt=\"Antoine Dupont made a successful comeback for France\" title=\"Antoine Dupont made a successful comeback for France\" width=\"650\" height=\"392\" class=\"img-responsive\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Antoine Dupont made a successful comeback for France<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \u00a9Photo by David Ramos &#8211; World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk\/france-beat-ireland-36-14-in-six-nations-opener\/42616.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France beat Ireland 36-14 in Six Nations opener<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk\/antoine-dupont-returns-to-captain-france-against-ireland\/42599.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Antoine Dupont returns to captain France against Ireland<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk\/tadhg-furlong-returns-to-ireland-training-ahead-of-france-clash\/42589.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tadhg Furlong returns to Ireland training ahead of France clash<br \/>\nSuggested Topics<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingrugbyunion.co.uk\/france-beat-ireland-36-14-in-six-nations-opener\/42616.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">France\u2019s 36\u201314 victory over Ireland<\/a> in Paris not only opened the Six Nations but also directly reshaped the World Rugby rankings, with both teams switching places after the result.<\/p>\n<p>World Rugby Rankings Change After France Win<\/p>\n<p>France gained 1.16 ranking points from the home victory and moved ahead of Ireland into fourth place in the World Rugby standings. Ireland dropped to fifth following the defeat, marking an early shift in the international order during the championship window.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa remain the world\u2019s top-ranked side, followed by New Zealand and England, with France now closing the gap after their opening-round success.<\/p>\n<p>France vs Ireland Result Impacts Global Order<\/p>\n<p>The rankings movement reflects the weighting given to matches between closely ranked Tier-1 nations. Because the teams entered the match separated by a narrow margin, France\u2019s win triggered an immediate swap in positions.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland had previously been competing near the top of the rankings but the defeat in Paris reduced their rating points, while France strengthened their position among the leading northern hemisphere sides.<\/p>\n<p>World Rugby Top 10 Rankings:<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\nRank&#13;<br \/>\nTeam&#13;<br \/>\nRating Points&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n1&#13;<br \/>\nSouth Africa&#13;<br \/>\n93.94&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n2&#13;<br \/>\nNew Zealand&#13;<br \/>\n90.33&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n3&#13;<br \/>\nEngland&#13;<br \/>\n89.41&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n4&#13;<br \/>\nFrance&#13;<br \/>\n88.40&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n5&#13;<br \/>\nIreland&#13;<br \/>\n86.81&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n6&#13;<br \/>\nArgentina&#13;<br \/>\n84.97&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n7&#13;<br \/>\nAustralia&#13;<br \/>\n81.53&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n8&#13;<br \/>\nFiji&#13;<br \/>\n81.14&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n9&#13;<br \/>\nScotland&#13;<br \/>\n80.22&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n10&#13;<br \/>\nItaly&#13;<br \/>\n78.98&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Antoine Dupont made a successful comeback for France \u00a9Photo by David Ramos &#8211; World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-462074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}