{"id":427980,"date":"2026-02-16T02:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T02:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427980\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T02:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T02:30:08","slug":"world-rankings-blow-adds-to-englands-murrayfield-misery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427980\/","title":{"rendered":"World Rankings blow adds to England’s Murrayfield misery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reigning Guinness Six Nations<\/a> men\u2019s champions France<\/a> have become the third-best team in world rugby, according to the rankings, after they beat Wales<\/a> 54-12 in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s humbling 31-20 defeat at the hands of Scotland<\/a> in the second of Saturday\u2019s matches had seen their rating drop below France\u2019s, which left Les Bleus just needing to win at the Principality Stadium to hold onto their improved position.<\/p>\n

And that was never in doubt from the moment Emilien Gailleton<\/a> ran in the first of their eight tries in the second minute.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s rating of 88.40 remains unchanged, as the points differential between themselves and the much-lower-ranked Wales meant that they were never going to be rewarded with additional points.<\/p>\n

However, England\u2019s rating has dropped by 1.70 points to 87.71, placing them fourth when the rankings are officially revised by World Rugby at noon on Monday.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s hard-fought 20-13 win over Italy<\/a> in the opening game of the weekend did not earn Andy Farrell\u2019s side any points, so they remain in fifth on 86.81. But the 1.70 points gained by Scotland for their Calcutta Cup success has seen them restored to ninth at Italy\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

Italy drop back down to 10th, their ranking when the Six Nations kicked off two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

With one match of the weekend left to play, the results in the second round of the Rugby Europe Championship<\/a> have so far had no impact on the rankings.<\/p>\n

Defending champions Georgia, 2025 runners-up Spain<\/a> and RWC 2023 surprise package Portugal<\/a> beat teams they were expected to beat \u2013 the Netherlands, Switzerland<\/a> and Germany, and as a result, their rating and ranking stay the same.<\/p>\n

However, the outcome of the match between Romania<\/a> and Belgium<\/a> at the Emil Alexandrescu Stadium in Iasi, kick-off 17:00 (GMT), will lead to changes.<\/p>\n

Romania will trade places with Belgium and move up one place to 21st if they win. However, a draw or a defeat will result in a new all-time rankings low for the Oaks, with 25th potentially on the cards.<\/p>\n

Updated World Rugby Rankings<\/p>\n

1. South Africa \u2013 93.94
2. New Zealand \u2013 90.33
3. France \u2013 88.40
4. England \u2013 87.71
5. Ireland \u2013 86.81
6. Argentina \u2013 84.98
7. Australia \u2013 81.53
8. Fiji \u2013 81.14
9. Scotland \u2013 81.01
10. Italy \u2013 79.81
11. Wales \u2013 74.24
12. Japan \u2013 74.09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reigning Guinness Six Nations men\u2019s champions France have become the third-best team in world rugby, according to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-427980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}