England down to 8th on IRB Rankings

Martin Johnson's England side has slipped down another spot, into 8th position, on the IRB World Rankings following Saturday's 18-9 defeat at the hands of Australia.

Wales, who went down 19-12 to the All Blacks, are the team to leapfrog ahead of them on the list which shows just one other change in the Top 20 after the first round of November internationals.  

Namibia awere the big winners of the week, moving up to 23rd following their 12-9 win over Portugal.

That defeat also had an affect on the Top 20 with Uruguary jumping ahead of Portugal into 20th spot.

Wins for New Zealand and Australia cemented their places in second and third respectively, behind South Africa, while Ireland, France and Argentina will all kick their international seasons off this coming weekend.

IRB top 15 rankings (last week's positions in brackets) :

1(1) South Africa 91.69
2(2) New Zealand 90.52
3(3) Australia 85.56
4(4) Ireland 83.27
5(5) France 81.48
6(6) Argentina 81.29
7(8) Wales 80.38
8(7) England 80.27
9(9) Fiji 76.52
10(10) Scotland 75.23
11(11) Samoa 73.48
12(12) Italy 71.23
13(13) Canada 70.07
14(14) Japan 68.37
15(15) Tonga 67.53
16(16) Russia 67.17
17(17) Georgia 66.85
18(18) USA 65.97
19(19) Romania 64.85
20(21)  Uruguay 61.97