World Rankings Permutations

World Rugby has published the latest men's World Rugby Rankings permutations for this weekend's Guinness 6 Nations and Rugby Europe Championship matches.

• France will secure an immediate return to third place if they beat Wales and England lose to Ireland
• Wales will climb above France if they complete the Grand Slam in Paris
• Wales can climb as high as third if they win by more than 15 points and England lose, or with a narrower victory if Ireland beat England by more than 15 points
• Les Bleus will drop two places to sixth if they lose and Ireland beat England in Dublin
• Wales can fall no lower than sixth with a heavy defeat in Paris, although their advantage over Australia would be down to less than a tenth
• Ireland will climb above Wales if they win and the Welsh lose to France
• Ireland must win by more than 15 points to climb above their visitors England
• The Irish could climb as high as third, but only if the above scenario happens and the match between France and Wales ends in a draw in Paris. This would leave both on 85.17 rating points to two decimal places, but Ireland with the slightly better rating when expanded to the 15 decimal places the rankings work to
• However, they will drop below Australia again with defeat at home to England
• England can fall no lower than fifth – a position they last occupied in August 2019
• Scotland cannot improve their rating with victory given the 9.47 rating points between the sides before home weighting is factored in
• Italy will climb two places if they avoid defeat against Scotland – three if Georgia lose to Russia
• The Scots will drop below Japan into 10th place if they fail to win at Murrayfield
• Georgia cannot improve their position with victory in Russia as their maximum gain is 0.42
• The Lelos will fall one place – below Tonga – if they lose by more than 15 points, two if Italy avoid defeat against Scotland
• Georgia could fall in victory if Italy also beat Scotland by more than 15 points. However, if the Lelos match Italy’s margin of victory they will not slip from 12th
• Russia can only improve their position if they beat Georgia and Romania lose to Spain
• Romania will climb above Spain into 18th place with victory over their visitors
• Spain will regain 17th place lost to Uruguay last weekend if they avoid defeat in Romania
• Los Leones can equal their highest position of 16th if they win by more than 15 points