Rome victory lifts England up to sixth in rankings
SIX NATIONS
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“If you look at the rankings we’re a better side than Italy. We have to prove that on Sunday.”
Eddie Jones’ pre-match chat took a while to ring true in Rome but, with several players making a positive impact from the bench, and Jonathan Joseph bagging himself a second-half hat-trick, England eventually pulled away from an Italian side that competed ferociously for nearly two-thirds of the match.
Because of their 40-9 win in the Italian capital and Ireland’s one-point loss to France in Paris, England are now even further in front of the 12th-ranked Azzurri in the World Rugby Rankings.
England move up to sixth, on 81.62 points – less than a point behind Argentina in fifth, with France gaining 0.84 of a point to go seventh and Ireland dropping to eighth.
Wales’ rating was only improved by two hundredths of a point following their hard-fought 27-23 win over Scotland and they remain as the northern hemisphere’s highest-ranked team in fourth.
Scotland are unmoved in 11th but the gap between themselves and Italy widened by 0.73 of a point as the Azzurri’s defeat was costlier from a rankings perspective.
EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP DIVISION 1A
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Rankings-wise, it’s a case of as you were for all of the European Nations Cup Division 1A teams apart from Spain who drop to 22nd after being beaten 21-18 at home to Romania with Uruguay the beneficiaries.
Romania did pick up 0.78 of a ranking point but remain in 17th. Not for the first time, the Oaks had the dependable boot of Florin Vlaicu to thank for victory. Los Leones led 13-5 at the interval and then 18-15 with 20 minutes to go following left winger Sebastien Ascaret’s second try of the matc, but Romania’s record points scorer kept his nerve to kick two late penalties and keep Romania in second place in the Division 1A table.
Georgia, ranked 14th, remain on course for a sixth straight European Nations Cup title after a 29-3, bonus-point win against Portugal saw them stretch their lead at the top of the standings to seven points. Russia stay third after beating bottom-of-the-table Germany 46-20 in Sochi.
Fans around the world fans are now able to watch the European Nations Cup matches on a dedicated platform after Rugby Europe launched rugbyeurope.tv as part of plans to grow the structure and stature of the continent's second and third tiers.
