The Welsh revival under Warren Gatland continued with their 29-12 defeat of France at the Millennium Stadium not only securing the RBS Six Nations Grand Slam, but also a one place climb in the latest IRB World Rankings to sixth at the expense of Les Bleus.
Wales now occupy their highest position for two years and only one below their best ever ranking of fifth from their previous Grand Slam triumph in 2005, while France have slipped to their lowest ever placing since the rankings were introduced in late 2003.
Tries by Shane Williams and Martyn Williams ensured the celebrations could get underway in Cardiff on Saturday evening after an unbeaten run that has seen their ranking improve four places and 5.95 points since the turn of the year.
Wales are the only team in the Six Nations to have improved their ranking in 2008 with Italy having remained in 11th after collecting the wooden spoon and England, France, Ireland and Scotland all suffering falls of one or two places.
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England have fluctuated between fourth and fifth over the last two months, but remain the leading northern hemisphere nation behind South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia with a 3.24 rating point cushion over Grand Slam winners Wales.
The recovery from a slow start to beat Ireland 33-10 at Twickenham resulted in only a small improvement in England’s rating points to 83.36, bringing the World Cup finalists to within a point of Australia above them and leaving Ireland still in their lowest ever position of eighth.
Scotland had begun the year ranked eighth after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals, but Andrea Marcato’s late drop goal secured a 23-20 win for Italy at the Stadio Flaminio and meant the Scots slipped back one to 10th, losing the position they had gained by beating England last weekend.
Fiji are the beneficiaries of Scotland’s third defeat in five Six Nations encounters in Rome as they return to ninth place, while Italy’s first victory under new coach Nick Mallett means they have now closed the gap to only 1.35 rating points between them and their visitors.
The Italians may not have avoided the wooden spoon – they had needed to win by five points to leapfrog Scotland in the Six Nations standings – but the victorious scenes in Rome mean they have doubled their advantage over Samoa, the team below them in the IRB World Rankings.
New high for Russia
There was one other positional change in the latest rankings with Russia climbing to a new high of 16th after four Yuri Kushnarev penalties gave them a 12-8 victory over Romania in their European Nations Cup encounter before 3,000 spectators in Krasnodar.
Russia had gone into the match trailing their visitors by 0.63 rating points, but a third successive victory on home soil in Krasnodar this month not only took them to the top of the European Nations Cup standings, but also saw them swap places with Romania.
The Russians, who lead Georgia by three points in the standings but having played a game more as the title race nears its conclusion, have now closed to within two tenths of Canada in 15th and eight tenths of their next opponents Georgia in 14th.
