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England and Ireland under pressure
Monday 17th November 2008
Crunch class: The result between Ireland and Argentina will be vital in the IRB Rankings race
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Argentina leap-frogged England to return to the all-important fourth spot in the IRB World Rankings this weekend as the draw for the 2011 World Cup approaches.
For the first time the Draw, to be held on December 1, will use the rankings to seed the 12 pre-qualified teams. A spot in the top for will thus ensure the Pumas would avoid being in the same RWC 2011 pool as one of the top three - currently New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
The Pumas 22-14 victory over Italy in Turin, and England's 28-14 loss to Australia at Twickenham this weekend saw England drop back to fifth after having moved above Argentina following the South America's loss to France a week earlier.
Ireland did not lose any rankings points despite a 22-3 home defeat against New Zealand as the rating gap between the two teams was too big. But the Irish know that defeat to Argentina next Saturday, combined with a Scotland win over Canada, will see them drop into ninth in the rankings and into the third band of teams for the RWC 2011 Draw. Scotland would move up to eighth.
England will now be hoping that Ireland can defeat Argentina on Saturday, whilst the RWC 2007 finalists will try to defeat world champions South Africa in order to gain valuable rankings points.
France, whose 42-17 victory over the Pacific Islanders does not count towards the IRB World Rankings, could also end up in fourth position if they defeat Australia on Saturday, and other results go in their favour.
South Africa's 14-10 win over Scotland cemented their place in the top four, whilst Australia are now almost certainly in the top band as well.
Elsewhere Japan produced a strong second-half performance against USA to turn a 14-10 half time deficit into a 29-19 win in Nagoya on Sunday.
Although neither side moved position in the rankings but Japan have moved closer to Canada above them.
Moldova are the week's biggest climbers, up five places to 31st after they defeated higher-ranked Belgium 20-8 in the European Nations Cup.
At the other end of the rankings, Israel recorded their fourth win in a row, this time 11-8 away in Bulgaria, to move up two places to 92nd. Bulgaria drop two to 94th.
IRB Rankings:
1(1) New Zealand 92.41
2(2) South Africa 88.45
3(3) Australia 86.70
4(5) Argentina 82.82
5(4) England 82.11
6(6) France 80.13
7(7) Wales 79.58
8(8) Ireland 77.18
9(9) Scotland 76.76
10(11) Fiji 75.24
11(10) Italy 74.64
12(12) Samoa 72.57
13(13) Tonga 70.05
14(14) Georgia 69.43
15(15) Canada 69.12
16(16) Japan 67.74
17(17) Romania 67.20
18(18) Russia 64.63
19(19) USA 63.86
20(20) Uruguay 62.55
With thanks to the IRB
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