Ireland have shot up two places in the latest World Rugby rankings following their hammering of England at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Their emphatic Six Nations victory earned them a full-house of five points in the league standings and resulted in a 2.09 rating point boost.
Top 10 shake up
Jamison Gibson-Park, Robert Baloucoune, Tommy O’Brien, Dan Sheehan and Jamie Osborne all crossed for tries en route to the record 42-21 victory in Twickenham while Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Lawrence and Sam Underhill all dotted down for Steve Borthwick’s charges.
The result sees Ireland leapfrog England and France into third place on the World Rugby rankings, with Les Bleus unable to reclaim that position regardless of the result in the final Six Nations match of the Round Three weekend against Italy in Lille in Sunday. Andy Farrell’s men remain 1.44 rating points behind the No.2 New Zealand.
Meanwhile, Scotland needed a late George Turner try to defeat a passionate Wales outfit 26-23 in Cardiff. The result has seen Gregor Townsend’s men jump two places in the rankings, moving ahead of Australia and Fiji into seventh.
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The narrow defeat also saw Wales drop from 11th to 12th below Japan in the standings and they now only hold a narrow 0.14 rating point advantage over Georgia.
The Georgians earned 0.30 rating points for their 42-30 win in the Rugby Europe Championship against Spain earlier on Saturday. That result cemented their 13th-placed ranking as Spain remained above USA in 15th place.
While Scotland have moved into seventh, that position is not safe as Italy can jump from 10th to seventh with an away victory over France.
A win of any kind will see the Azzurri do just that, while Les Bleus will only drop below their current fourth-place standing if Italy stun them with a victory of more than 15 points.
Latest World Rugby Rankings
(As of 21/02/2026 before Germany v Belguim)
1 South Africa 93.94
2 New Zealand 90.33
3 (↑2) Ireland 88.89 (+2.09)
4 (↓1) France 88.40
5 (↓1) England 85.62 (-2.09)
6 Argentina 84.97
7 (↑2) Scotland 81.71 (+0.61)
8 (↓1) Australia 81.53
9 (↓1) Fiji 81.14
10 Italy 79.81
11 (↑1) Japan 74.09
12 (↓1)Wales 73.62 (-0.61)
13 Georgia 73.48 (+0.30)
14 Uruguay 69.19
15 Spain 68.86 (-0.30)
16 USA 68.26
17 Chile 66.72
18 Tonga 66.66
19 Portugal 66.53
20 Samoa 66.43
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