Scotland reach new highs in IRB rankings

[TRF_Olyy]

The top ten atm is:
<table class="table_main" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="l">1(1)</td><td class="l">

NEW ZEALAND</td><td class="l">93.19</td></tr><tr><td class="l">2(3)

</td><td class="l">

AUSTRALIA</td><td class="l">85.90</td></tr><tr><td class="l">3(2)

</td><td class="l">

SOUTH AFRICA</td><td class="l">85.31</td></tr><tr><td class="l">4(4)</td><td class="l">

ENGLAND</td><td class="l">83.61</td></tr><tr><td class="l">5(5)</td><td class="l">

FRANCE</td><td class="l">83.21</td></tr><tr><td class="l">6(8)

</td><td class="l">

SCOTLAND</td><td class="l">81.20</td></tr><tr><td class="l">7(6)

</td><td class="l">

IRELAND</td><td class="l">80.90</td></tr><tr><td class="l">8(7)

</td><td class="l">

ARGENTINA</td><td class="l">79.87</td></tr><tr><td class="l">9(9)</td><td class="l">

WALES</td><td class="l">77.04</td></tr><tr><td class="l">10(10)</td><td class="l">

FIJI</td><td class="l">75.02</td></tr></tbody></table>
(from http://www.irb.com/rankings/index.html)

Scotland are at 6th place, after their win over the Springboks, the highest they've ever been in the IRB rankings.


How much do the points normally change in a match? I know that if you're at home and win you don't get as many, but is it possible for England to reach the top 3 if they beat the Boks by a fair whack?
Is it possibly for Scotland to go up another place if they beat Samoa, and France lose to Australia? Samoa are only 1pt behind Fiji atm, so it may be that they work their way into the top 10 if they have a big win against Scotland

Georgia and Portugal both rose one spot to 16th and 21st, respectively



Edit:
After reading how they work out how they do the rankings I think that:
If England win by >15, they'll gain 1.95pts, and SA will lose that much. If They win by <15 then they'll gain 1.3, and SA will lose 1.3. So a win over SA will put England into 3rd .
A big win for England and a big loss for Australia might even see England at 2nd
I think this is right, anyhow

 

[durbutter]

Nice statistics but they are pretty meaningless. It is another indication however that NZ are streets ahead of everyone else.

 

[Seaton]

Yaaaaasss

6th in the world!

Yay, oh great jubalition

Scotland shall stay sixth should Samoa shank Saturdays size-up

(Not really, as Samoa is 5 or more places below us, in which case if we win, the rankings points won't
Change, just like the All Blacks got nothing for walloping us, however if Samoa do win then changes will be made

 

[gingergenius]

how the **** did england get above France?

 

[Seaton]

how the **** did england get above France?

Just thinking about that, were England above the French going into the AIs?

That would have been 'cause of the SA and Arg losses, with the English Aus win

If not, well then the France vs. Fiji would not have changed points, whilst the England win over
Aus was over 15 points, meaning a big change in points

 

[iWin]

I think that ranking scotland just slightly above Ireland is a fair representation at the moment.
England, SA and France are definitely 3,4,5 and so you can pick and choose which way round you think they should be.
Nice to see rankings that actually reflect the way rugby is right now.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Just thinking about that, were England above the French going into the AIs?

Nope, just checked and England were 6th going into the AIs!

Week commencing 25th October:
<table class="table_main" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="l">1(1)</td><td class="l">

NEW ZEALAND</td><td class="l">94.77</td></tr><tr><td class="l">2(2)</td><td class="l">

AUSTRALIA</td><td class="l">85.56</td></tr><tr><td class="l">3(3)</td><td class="l">

SOUTH AFRICA</td><td class="l">85.22</td></tr><tr><td class="l">4(4)</td><td class="l">

FRANCE</td><td class="l">82.75</td></tr><tr><td class="l">5(5)</td><td class="l">

IRELAND</td><td class="l">82.03</td></tr><tr><td class="l">6(6)</td><td class="l">

ENGLAND</td><td class="l">81.82</td></tr><tr><td class="l">7(7)</td><td class="l">

SCOTLAND</td><td class="l">79.81</td></tr><tr><td class="l">8(8)</td><td class="l">

ARGENTINA</td><td class="l">79.70</td></tr><tr><td class="l">9(9)</td><td class="l">

WALES</td><td class="l">78.58</td></tr><tr><td class="l">10(10)</td><td class="l">

FIJI</td><td class="l">74.39</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[Teh Mite]

More to the point, how have Australia only lost 0.34 points?

 

[Feicarsinn]

More to the point, how have Australia only lost 0.34 points?

Won two and lost one. Wouldn't have been surprised had they gone up.

 

[coonor]

Don't get me wrong Scotland are doing really well but I think if the fly half is off target or Parks gets injured then Scotland have a real problem because their inability to score trys really worrys me.

 

[Phlegm & Poise]

Scotland's place is a bit of a flaw in the system. Away from a wet, windy and horrible Murrayfield, would they ever scalp Australia, SA, even get a draw with England?!! I think they'd struggle to beat Samoa and Fiji at a neutral venue, and they'd certainly lose to Wales & Ireland...

What is probably apparent is that there are a few subdivisions...

NZ are way out ahead
Australia, SA, England and France are decent.
Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Argentina are somewhere behind
The rest have a bit more of a catch-up to do

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

The rankings are cack - if NZ lose a couple of games to Oz they will be overtaken, when they've just had an almost unbeaten streak of 16 or so games, compared to Oz's crap record.

The rankings really reflect nothing.

 

[Seaton]

Scotland's place is a bit of a flaw in the system. Away from a wet, windy and horrible Murrayfield, would they ever scalp Australia, SA, even get a draw with England?!!Wales & Ireland...
Australia, SA, England and France are decent.
Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Argentina are somewhere behind
The rest have a bit more of a catch-up to do

Haha, what ignorance, as this year...

Scotland drew 15 all with England, at Twickers
And Scotland beat Ireland in Ireland.

 

[lynam1104]

TBH Scotland's win was really our fault we need to get rid of DOC and Best when the line out F'ed up but Scotland deserved that win i still think were better tho.

 

[durbutter]

Scotland have a great line out, decent scrum, good loosies, good 9 and an outhalf that can kick. They are pretty rubbish outside that.

 

[Seaton]

Scotland have a great line out, decent scrum, good loosies, good 9 and an outhalf that can kick. They are pretty rubbish outside that.

Minor details

 

[Dougydeluxe]

Scotland are getting better and they have shown that they can win big games. I think Andy is doing a good job and is trying to get everything in order before he starts demanding more from the backs.

 

[ckell]

Really happy to see Scotland becoming a good team again. I still think they're no.4 in Europe though behind England, France,and Ireland though, regardless of what the rankings might say.

 

[LittleGuy]

Is 6th place a little high in the IRB rankings I'd say yes as of now, but still I think the Scots are going to shock some people with a solid Six Nations campaign this upcoming year, aside from the no-show vs. New Zealand they have been playing some pretty solid rugby. While there is still a little too much reliance on Dan Parks and kicking points, the schedule is favourable to them. Ireland, Wales and Italy at Murrayfield are games the Scots can definately win especially with Wales and Ireland playing sub par rugby by their standards. England at Twickenham will be difficult although not impossible and I still say France are too strong especially at home. I'm saying Scotland finishes third or pssibly even second I know that sounds bold but the Scots were a couple of last minute plays away from winning most of their games last year and the only one they weren't in was the one against France. Then again any potential injury issues are huge since depth is a serious issue.

 

[Wally]

The rankings are cack - if NZ lose a couple of games to Oz they will be overtaken, when they've just had an almost unbeaten streak of 16 or so games, compared to Oz's crap record.

The rankings really reflect nothing.

Well champ if Australia beat New Zealand twice consecutively it would quite accurately indicate that Australia is the better team on form.