NZ Avoid 7-Year Itch But England Are Closing In
The way England dusted themselves down from their premature pool exit at Rugby World Cup 2015 to register a perfect season of 13 wins from 13 was one of the success stories of 2016. And the World Rugby Rankings reflected the remarkable turnaround in England’s fortunes as they climbed from a low of eighth at the start of the year to second by the end of 2016, gaining over 10 rating points in the process to break through the 90-point barrier.
Only a disastrous Six Nations title defence could cost them a place in the top four and the top band seed status they covet when the draw for RWC 2019 takes place in Kyoto, Japan, on 10 May. Since moving into second place on 20 June, England have continued to eat away at New Zealand’s lead at the top of the rankings – a status they have now held for just over seven years.
The All Blacks enjoyed a 6.77-point advantage over fellow RWC 2015 finalists Australia at the end of 2015 but 12 months on there is now only 4.32 points between themselves and England. Rugby Championship winners New Zealand lost more points than they gained over the course of the year thanks to a shock 40-29 defeat at the hands of Ireland in Chicago, which ended their world recordequalling, 18-match winning run. The All Blacks may have exacted revenge on Ireland in Dublin, three days after they’d celebrated their seven-year anniversary at the top of the rankings on 16 November, but they are 1.32 points worse off overall.
A transitional year for Australia resulted in a loss of a fraction under three rating points and a fall of one place to third, while South Africa, who sat in third for all bar one week of the first half of the season, lost the best part of six points in the second half of 2016 after a poor Rugby Championship and November campaign. They ended the year in sixth, their joint-lowest position since the rankings began in October 2003. Argentina were another nation to take a nosedive in the rankings, falling from fifth to ninth with a loss of 2.68 points. Wales are now fifth instead of fourth but with little change to their points total, while Ireland gained three-and-ahalf points and two places to move to fourth on the back of an historic first win over the All Blacks and a first win in South Africa. It was an upwardly mobile year for Celtic cousins Scotland too. Vern Cotter’s side picked up 2.73 points after an improved showing in the Six Nations, a 2-0 series win over Japan and victories over Argentina and Georgia in November. They now reside in seventh place in the rankings, their joint best position since the rankings were first introduced. France started the year in seventh and ended it in eighth, while Fiji came out on top in the battle with Japan for 10th spot. Looking at the nations ranked between 11th and 20th, all experienced a one-place move, up or down, bar Georgia and Namibia who both climbed two places to 12th and 20th respectively, the Lelos completing their first-ever tour of the Pacific unbeaten, while Samoa stay unchanged in 15th. Italy finished the year slightly worse off, one place down in 13th, despite achieving their first-ever win over South Africa in Florence in November.
Women’s World Rankings Round Up
The first-ever global ranking system for the women’s game was introduced ahead of the Women’s Six Nations, with New Zealand the top team in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings on 91.94 points. The Blacks Ferns improved their points total to 93.43 points by the end of a year when they played five and won five, although their cushion over the second-placed team was fractionally reduced. Despite pipping England to the Six Nations title on points difference, Les Bleues conceded second place to their rivals over the course of the 12 months, the Red Roses overcoming the disappointment of their 17-12 Six Nations loss with victories in the two equally tight encounters that followed, 17-13 in the Women’s Rugby Super Series in Utah, USA and 10-5 at the Twickenham Stoop in November. By winning nine of their 12 matches – the other defeats came against Canada and New Zealand – Simon Middleton’s side gained just over one-and-a-half points to move on to 88.09 points, still 5.34 behind the Black Ferns. France lost a fraction under three to drop to fourth. In the same year that the Canadian women’s team won bronze at the Olympic Games, the 15s side also tasted success, moving up two places in the rankings from fifth to third. England, the USA, France and Ireland were all ruthlessly brushed aside in Canada’s first four fixtures of the year but later clashes against New Zealand and England proved to be games too far. Ireland played more games than ever before outside of a Women’s Rugby World Cup year, winning three of their Six Nations matches but losing all three in their first November series, against England, Canada and New Zealand at the UCD Bowl in Dublin, the venue for the WRWC 2017 pool stages in August. As such, they fell one place to fifth, losing two and three-quarter points in the process. A winless year cost the USA nearly three-and-a-half points and a two-place fall to eighth, with Australia and Italy moving up a place to sixth and seventh accordingly. While Australia’s points total remains unchanged from the start of the year following back-to-back losses against New Zealand, Italy managed wins over Scotland and Wales to improve their score to 77.72 points from 76.89. The only other significant change to the rankings outside of the top 10 involved Fiji, who beat test rugby newcomers Papua New Guinea, 3710, in their first game for a decade and their first on home soil. Fijiana would go on to lose to Japan and Hong Kong, defeats which cost them a place at Ireland 2017, but the win over PNG was enough to earn them 0.46 of a point and a two-place rise to 30th.