Welsh Rugby fans will no doubt have been pleased with their performance during the World Cup, reaching the semi-finals and eventually finishing in fourth place.
However they received a huge shock when the latest IRB World Rankings were announced, as they slipped from sixth to eighth.
New Zealand unsurprisingly maintained their first place position, having defeated France in the final last Sunday.
Australia were again positioned second, while the French were the highest ranked Northern Hemisphere side in third, after an heroic tournament.
South Africa may have been surprised to end up in fourth, but were certainly below par at the World Cup, while England completed the top five.
But while Wales' World Cup performance in New Zealand was a massive boost to the sport in the country, news of their latest ranking will come as a surprise.
During the group stages, they pushed former world champions, South Africa all the way before eventually qualifying for the knock out stages.
There they put in another impressive performance to send home their six nations rivals Ireland, recording a 22-10 win in the quarter final, before eventually succumbing to France, who they will feel hard done-by not to have beaten.
Despite their brave performances at the World Cup, Warren Gatland's side were the only top 10 side to slip down the rankings. Even English fans wearing a Bath Jersey will tell you that this is a little strange.
Their slip in the rankings should be of no major significance, though, with their confidence no doubt having been significantly boosted.
They have quite a wait until their next game, but when they take on Australia in December it will be the chance to show the world they are better than their ranking of eighth.
One side that Wales defeated during the tournament, Ireland are above them in the rankings, in sixth place.
That meant they leapt above the Welsh, while Argentina did the same, as they moved up to seventh position.
In the new year they come up against the Irish once more, and will surely be looking to hand them a beating to prove they should be above them in the IRB rankings.
Tonga were ranked ninth, while Scotland completed the top 10.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment