Following an epic round of the 2026 Six Nations, here\u2019s how round four of the Championship impacted the World Rugby rankings.<\/p>\n
The weekend\u2019s action kicked off with Ireland and Wales going hammer and tongs at one with another, the former claiming a hard-fought 27-17 victory, setting the tone for what was to come.<\/p>\n
The Welsh were underdogs heading into the clash, and while they weren\u2019t able to seal a shock win, the lesser-favoured outfits on Saturday both did.<\/p>\n
First, Scotland<\/a> tore up the form book with a stunning 50-40 win over the Grand Slam-chasing France<\/a>, with three late tries not only flattering the scoreline for Les Bleus but meant that they held onto fourth place in the World Rugby rankings.<\/p>\n Then came the biggest result of the round as Italy shocked England 23-18 in Rome<\/a>, claiming their very first win in the history of the fixture.<\/p>\n Impact on the rankings<\/p>\n Andy Farrell\u2019s charges didn\u2019t earn any rating points for their win over Wales on Friday evening but would have still surrendered third place had France beaten Scotland at Murrayfield. Instead, Les Bleus remain in fourth and Ireland in third.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Scotland earned 1.37 rating points for their win over France, which meant that they remained in seventh-place but made up significant ground on the top five and moved more than one and a half points clear of Australia in third.<\/p>\n Scotland v France: Five takeaways as Les Bleus pay the price for \u2018shocking tactical arrogance\u2019 and Scots \u2018earn the right to dream\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The final game of the weekend produced the only change in ranking places as the Azzurri\u2019s historic victory earned them 1.28 rating points, with England losing the same amount. While Italy remain in tenth position, Steve Borthwick\u2019s men have now fallen to sixth, with Argentina moving into the top five.<\/p>\n Italy now have a massive buffer of seven rating points over 11th-placed Japan and trails ninth-placed Fiji by just 0.05 rating points.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, England continue to plummet as they started 2026 in third place and have surrendered three positions in four rounds of Six Nations action, and it could get worse next weekend if they fail to beat France and Scotland defeat Ireland.<\/p>\n