DESPITE THE 13-10 defeat to England in the Six Nations last weekend, Ireland have moved up a place in the IRB World Rankings.
Coming into the third round of the European competition, Ireland were ranked sixth, but the combination of their narrow loss to the English and France’s heavy defeat in Cardiff means Joe Schmidt’s men rise to fifth.
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Philippe Saint-André’s side, who have dropped Louis Picamoles for their next game against Scotland, drop to seventh in the IRB’s official list after the 27-6 loss to Wales. Warren Gatland’s men move above the French into sixth, while the only other change inside the top 20 teams in world rugby sees Italy falling one spot to 14th.
Meanwhile, the IRB’s Anti-Doping Advisory Committee has announced that they carried out 1,831 drugs tests in men and women’s rugby in 2013, both in and out of competition. With an increased focus on blood testing, there were just three anti-doping rule violations in those controls.
Figures for the number of tests carried out in rugby by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2013 are still being awaited.
Do you think Ireland are the fifth best team in world rugby, or do the IRB have it all wrong?
This is probably the first time we’ve ever had a decent chance of beating all of the teams above us. We’ve beaten the Aussies and the Saffers a few times in recent years, and we know there’s only a score between us and England and NZ. Nothing in this top 5.
Only thing is we have lost to 3 of them in our last 6 games.
Let’s see where we are after the the rest of this years 6 Nations, the Autumn series and next years 6 Nations. Hopefully we will be in good shape and step up another level as we head into the WC.
No. New Zealand, South africa, Australia, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Samoa, Argentina, Scotland, Fiji, Tonga and Japan. Rugby is a minor but growing sport in Mongolia. The Mongolian Rugby Football Union was only established in 2003 and they are currently not ranked in the top 101 teams. Mongolias first official match sanctioned by the IRB was in the Asian Five Nations Division 2 where they took on Kyrgyzstan, losing 21-38. For the full IRB world rankings see here http://www.irb.com/rankings/sportid=1/ranking/index.html
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Seems to be more accurate than the FIFA rankings anyway!
This is probably the first time we’ve ever had a decent chance of beating all of the teams above us. We’ve beaten the Aussies and the Saffers a few times in recent years, and we know there’s only a score between us and England and NZ. Nothing in this top 5.
Only thing is we have lost to 3 of them in our last 6 games.
Let’s see where we are after the the rest of this years 6 Nations, the Autumn series and next years 6 Nations. Hopefully we will be in good shape and step up another level as we head into the WC.
There are over a 100 countries ranked so lying 5th is not too bad.
And about 90 of them countries play for Blackrock College. How many red thumbs will I get for that comment. Come on lads. Do yer worst
We’d ranked number 1 if Zebo was playing….
Rugger rankings r a laff. Italy 14th! Who’s above them, Outer Mongolia !
No. New Zealand, South africa, Australia, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Samoa, Argentina, Scotland, Fiji, Tonga and Japan. Rugby is a minor but growing sport in Mongolia. The Mongolian Rugby Football Union was only established in 2003 and they are currently not ranked in the top 101 teams. Mongolias first official match sanctioned by the IRB was in the Asian Five Nations Division 2 where they took on Kyrgyzstan, losing 21-38. For the full IRB world rankings see here http://www.irb.com/rankings/sportid=1/ranking/index.html
Lawyered….!
I reckon 5th is fair reflection of Ireland’s position in the world on current form could be European champs next month not sure about Australia 3rd
Italy are definitely a better team than Samoa,Fiji,Tonga or Japan.