Irish drop to seventh in world

IRELAND have dropped one place to seventh in the IRB world rankings after the weekend’s Guinness Series International loss to the top side in the world, New Zealand.

Scotland have leapfrogged Declan Kidney’s men into sixth after beating world champions South Africa 21-17 on Saturday to reach their highest ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.

Andy Robinson’s side bounced back from a record loss to New Zealand seven days earlier to taste victory over the Springboks for the first time since 2002 and climb above Ireland and Argentina.

South Africa’s first loss of their European tour means they surrender second spot back to Australia. The Wallabies, who dropped to third after losing to England last weekend, beat 12th ranked Italy 32-14 in Florence but this result did not have any impact on their rating.

England remain the leading northern hemisphere nation in the IRB World Rankings in fourth after beating a spirited Samoan outfit 26-13 at Twickenham, albeit now only by four tenths from France, the 15-9 conquerors of Argentina in Montpellier.