New World Rugby rankings as England and Wales fall and Spain close in on Italy

Wales and England have both fallen in the new World Rugby rankings table published today.

Wayne Pivac's side have slipped back below Scotland to eighth after the 13-9 defeat against France on Friday night and the Scots' win over Italy on Saturday.

England's record 32-15 home defeat to Ireland, albeit with 14 men for almost the entirety of the match, sees them drop to fifth, behind the Irish. France maintain third place but will overtake the All Blacks in second if they beat England and secure a Grand Slam next Saturday.

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It means Wales are set to finish the Six Nations as the eighth ranked team in the world next week, no matter what the result against Italy.

That's because of the Italian's lowly ranking of 14th, which means a home victory for Wales will make no dent in terms of rankings points. They are just one place and less than two rankings points ahead of Spain now, who qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup this weekend with victory over Portugal.

Spain will face world champions South Africa, Scotland, Ireland and an unconfirmed Asia-Pacific qualifier in Pool B.

Their only other men's World Cup appearance came in 1999, when they lost all three of their pool games.