France Up to Fourth in World Rugby Rankings
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France have overtaken Ireland in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings as a result of their 30-24 win at a raucous Stade de France on Saturday.
Les Bleus moved up a place to fourth and Ireland dropped two places to fifth after a game that lived up to all the pre-match hype.
The match between the Six Nations 2022 top two teams started at a frantic pace with World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year, Antoine Dupont, scoring with barely a minute on the clock.
Mack Hansen’s brilliant catch on the run from a restart saw Ireland reply shortly afterwards before the half closed with France holding a 19-7 lead thanks to the boot of Melvyn Jaminet.
Another Jaminet penalty extended France’s lead at the start of the second half but Ireland hit back with two tries in five minutes from Josh van der Flier and Jamison Gibson-Park.
Prop Cyril Baille barged his way over to give France some respite and after that the only scoring came from the respective boots of Jaminet and Joey Carbery.
France are the only team with two wins from the opening two rounds and remain on course for a first Six Nations title and also a Grand Slam since 2010.
Further improvement in the rankings is possible over the coming weeks as England are only a third of a rating point better off than them in third while New Zealand hold an advantage of 2.29 points in second.
With two away games against Scotland and Wales coming up and a home date with England to finish off the Championship, France will have opportunities to make up further ground.
Here's how the table looks after R2️⃣!#GuinnessSixNations pic.twitter.com/VovR5FLolv
— Guinness Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 13, 2022
France were last ranked second in the world in October 2007 when they hosted Rugby World Cup 2007, and to get there again before they host their next tournament in 2023 would be another sign of their progress under head coach Fabien Galthié.
