While England rewrote the record books once again in completing a 3-0 series win over Australia, perhaps the most eye-catching performance of the weekend came from a French team who’ve had to take a few steps back to go forward under coach Guy Noves.
Six days after slipping to their lowest position of ninth since the World Rugby Rankings were introduced in October 2003, as a result of their 30-19 loss to Argentina in the first test at the Stade Monumental Jose Fierro in Tucumán, Les Bleus bounced back in style to win 27-0 against the same opposition at the same venue to level the series and earn themselves two and two-thirds rating points, which is enough to lift them up two places in the rankings to seventh.
By contrast Argentina were the biggest losers of the weekend from a rankings perspective, dropping four places from fifth to ninth. Not since February 2015 have Los Pumas been as low in the rankings, and not since 1949 have they failed to score a point in a match against Les Bleus.
Wales and Ireland, despite being beaten by New Zealand and South Africa, benefitted from Argentina’s demise by moving up one place to fifth and sixth respectively.
TOP FOUR UNCHANGED
At the top, it's a case of as you were with New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia still occupying spots one to four.
A ninth straight win under Eddie Jones has seen England trim New Zealand’s cushion at the top by almost a point and they are now a mere 6.61 points behind the All Blacks, who did not pick up any points for completing a 3-0 series whitewash of their own, against Wales.
Third-placed South Africa are a further 3.17 points in arrears after gaining 0.29 for their hard-fought 19-13 win over Ireland, which saw them clinch a 2-1 series win against Joe Schmidt’s men.
Australia drop a full point following their 44-40 loss to England in Sydney but are still two clear of Wales.
NEW HIGH FOR GEORGIA
Not many sides keep Fiji try-less but Georgia did just that as they finished their first ever Pacific islands tour unbeaten. The Lelos won 14-3 at the ANZ Stadium in Suva, and as a result they now find themselves on 75.23 rating points, which takes them above Japan and into a new record high of 11th in the rankings. Fiji remain in 10th.
The win over Fiji came on the back of a draw against Samoa in their first match on Pacific soil which was then followed a week later by a narrow 23-20 victory over Tonga. "This tour was always about doing something special, something no other Georgian rugby team had done and that was to come down and win in the Pacific Islands," said proud Lelos coach Milton Haig.
"We discussed this back in March and everyone bought into the idea of creating some history here in the Pacific. It's been a great achievement to leave Fiji an undefeated team and this will give us great confidence to be able to keep progressing our rugby further in the coming months.
"It's been a great achievement to leave Fiji an undefeated team and this will give us great confidence to be able to keep progressing our rugby further in the coming months"
"Everybody has worked very hard for this to happen the last four weeks and they all deserve huge congratulations."
Four late penalties from replacement Greig Laidlaw ensured Scotland enjoyed back-to-back wins against Japan in Tokyo. The 21-16 win, watched by a record crowd of 34,073 also solidified their position as the eighth best team in the world.
TRADING PLACES
In Toronto, Italy edged a physical battle with Canada to win 20-18 and remain in 13th, but Samoa take 14th spot off Tonga after a 30-10 win over the ‘Ikale Tahi in the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. Samoa and Tonga are not the only rivals to exchanges places with USA moving ahead of Canada and back into 17th on account of their 25-0 win over Russia and Canada’s loss to Italy. Russia drop out of the world’s top 20.
Tunisia kicked off their Africa Cup Division 1B campaign with a comfortable 43-10 win against Botswana. The result did not affect either nations' ranking because no points were awarded due to the 26-place difference between the sides. Tunisia are ranked 38th and Botswana 64th.
Georgia photo credit: Bruce Southwick/Zoomfiji
