An enthralling final day of the RBS 6 Nations 2015 left the top three separated by just 10 in the point difference calculations with Ireland, England and Wales replicating their places in the World Rugby Rankings in the final standings.

Ireland successfully defended their Six Nations title with a record 40-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield to remain the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings in third, albeit still 2.47 rating points behind South Africa.

Scotland remain 10th after suffering a whitewash in Vern Cotter’s first Six Nations campaign, but they now sit just nine hundredths ahead of their RWC 2015 Pool B opponents Japan.

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England ran out 55-35 winners over France at Twickenham but they came up six points shy of overhauling Ireland in the point difference stakes, their significantly better try-scoring record would have given Stuart Lancaster’s men the title had they and Ireland finished level.

The win only improved England’s rating by just under three tenths, meaning the gap to Ireland above them has increased fractionally to 0.26. Despite the defeat and fourth place in the standings, France remain in seventh place in the rankings.

Wales were the most emphatic winners on the final day, scoring seven second-half tries in Rome to beat Italy 61-20, but with nine places separating the two teams at kick-off, the gain in rating points is minimal at under two tenths.

That margin of defeat, allied to Georgia’s 15-6 victory over Romania to clinch another European Nations Cup title, was enough to see Italy fall a place to a new low of 15th. Georgia, who have now won 10 straight ENC matches, now have a commanding cushion over the sides below Italy.

Romania’s loss to Georgia means they fall one place to 18th with Canada the beneficiaries.

The weekend’s other two ENC Division 1A matches had no impact on the ratings after the higher ranked Russia (19th) beat Portugal (23rd) 21-8 in Sochi and Spain (21st) convincingly beat Germany (28th) 48-6 in Madrid.
 
The NACRA Championship 2015 also continued with four matches over the weekend, although only two of them counted towards the rankings as the others only featured one World Rugby full member union.

The Bahamas are the biggest climbers of the last seven days after a 21-15 victory over Bermuda in their North Zone Cup encounter in Nassau. That win lifted the Bahamas three places to 83rd and condemned their visitors to a four-place drop to 66th.

Barbados also fell three places to 76th on the back of their 44-7 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on home soil in the South Zone Championship. Trinidad and Tobago climbed two places to 50th as a result of their emphatic victory.