This post was originally published on this site.
Wales have closed in on a return to the top 10 in World Rugby’s rankings following their victory over Fiji in Cardiff on Saturday.
Steve Tandy’s side, who currently sit in 11th, closed the gap on ninth-placed Fiji – with tenth-placed Italy also dropping points after losing to Japan in Tokyo. The 39-24 win over Fiji, classed as an away game despite being in Cardiff, saw Wales improve their points by 1.31.
That brought Fiji a little closer, with the gap between those two now 3.46 points.
The deficit between Italy and Wales is even closer, with Italy losing 1.88 points following their loss to the Brave Blossoms. They sit just 1.39 points ahead of Wales.
The flipside is that Japan, following that win over the Italians, are hot on the heels of Wales in 12th – sitting just 0.40 points behind.
Wales dropped out of the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in July 2024 – at the early stages of what would become an 18-Test losing run.
They’ve not troubled the top 10 since then, even falling to as low as 14 last summer.
However, having now won one game in each of their past four campaigns, it would appear that Steve Tandy is slowly turning things around from Warren Gatland’s ill-fated second spell.
Elsewhere, Scotland moved up to equal their record highest ranking of fifth in the world – leapfrogging England – following their win over Argentina.
The last time Gregor Townsend’s side were ranked fifth was during the 2023 World Cup.
England remain in sixth, having not lost any points following the defeat to South Africa in Johannesburg.
Argentina dropped two places down to seventh ahead of Saturday’s clash with Wales in San Juan.
There’s no other changes in the top 10, although New Zealand did cut South Africa’s lead at the top of the rankings to 2.90 points following their close-fought victory over France.
Latest World Rugby men’s rankings
- South Africa – 93.94 (-)
- New Zealand – 91.04 (-)
- Ireland – 89.32 (-)
- France – 86.75 (-)
- Scotland – 84.71 (+2)
- England – 83.91 (-)
- Argentina – 83.77 (-2)
- Australia – 81.28 (-)
- Fiji – 79.53 (-)
- Italy – 77.31 (-)
- Wales – 76.68 (-)
- Japan – 76.42 (-)
- Georgia – 72.67 (-)
- USA – 69.40 (+2)
- Portugal – 68.51 (-1)
- Uruguay – 68.46 (-1)
- Chile – 67.31 (+1)
- Samoa – 66.91 (+2)
- Tonga – 66.88 (-)
- Spain – 66.64 (-3)
- Belgium – 61.02 (-)
- Romania – 60.08 (-)
- Canada – 59.63 (+2)
- Hong Kong China – 59.14 (-1)
- Zimbabwe – 58.59 (-1)
Follow all of our channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Welsh rugby news. Sign up to our free daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here for all the breaking news.
