How this weekend's Six Nations can impact the World Rankings
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World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the second rounds of the Six Nations and Rugby Europe Championship 2022.
Permutation highlights:
- Wales must beat Scotland by more than 15 points to be the higher ranked of the two nations and then only by 0.01 of a rating point
- Scotland will slip back to seventh below Australia if they lose by a smaller margin
- Scotland will climb above a beaten France into fifth – equalling their highest ever ranking – if they are victorious against Wales, a result which would see the Welsh drop one to ninth
- Les Bleus will be ranked higher than Ireland if they win their encounter in Paris and would climb another place to third if England also fail to beat Italy
- A heavy defeat for Les Bleus could see them drop as low as seventh if in tandem with a Scottish win
- Ireland cannot improve on third place but could cut New Zealand’s advantage to just 0.16 rating points with a win by more than 15 points
- England cannot improve their rating with victory over Italy due to the 16.15 rating points between the sides before home weighting is factored in
- Italy must beat England by more than 15 points to climb above a Georgia side victorious in the Netherlands. If Georgia fail to win then a smaller margin of victory is enough for Italy
- Georgia cannot improve their rating with victory over the Netherlands due to the 15.90 rating points between the sides before home weighting is factored in
- The Netherlands must win by more than 15 points to improve their position if Russia win. However, if the Bears lose then a smaller margin of victory will be sufficient
- Romania cannot improve their position even with an emphatic victory over their visitors and will drop below Tonga if they fail to beat Portugal
- Portugal will fall two places if beaten by Romania, three if in tandem with a Spanish victory over Russia
- Portugal will climb to a new high of 15th if they beat Romania and will be the higher ranked of the two nations for the first time since November 2005
- Romania can fall between three and five places, depending on the margin of defeat and the outcome of the Russia v Spain match
- Russia will climb two places – above Chile and Namibia – if they beat the higher-ranked Spain in Sochi
- Spain can climb two or three places in victory with Russia remaining 25th unless the Dutch can upset Georgia
A ton of movement in the World Rankings after this weekend's action ↕️
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) February 7, 2022
See the full rankings in App 📲 #GuinnessSixNations #RugbyEurope
Match officials:
- Nic Berry (Australia) takes charge of his first Six Nations match since March 2019 with Wales v Scotland
- Compatriot Angus Gardner will do the same with France v Ireland with all of his previous Six Nations matches as referee having involved one of these sides
- Damon Murphy (Australia) will make his Six Nations debut as a referee when he takes charge of Italy v England
- Andrea Piardi (Italy) takes charge of Russia v Spain for the second time, having overseen Los Leones' 31-12 win in Sochi in 2020
- Ludovic Cayre (France) will referee the Netherlands v Georgia match making it five years in a row that he has refereed a match in the Rugby Europe Championship
- Frank Murphy (Ireland) will officiate Romania v Portugal, having been in the middle for Portugal's historic victory over Canada in November
Team news highlights:
- Wales captain Dan Biggar will play his 100th test (including Lions caps) and could be joined on the milestone by replacement Jonathan Davies
- Second-row Grant Gilchrist will win his 50th cap for Scotland
- France make two personnel changes, one enforced with Yoram Moefana replacing the injured Jonathan Danty at centre
- James Ryan will captain Ireland in the absence of the injured Johnny Sexton with Joey Carbery to start at fly-half
- Italy tight-head prop Pietro Ceccarelli will make his first test start in his 18th international as one of three changes to the Azzurri starting line-up
- England ring the changes with winger Jack Nowell to make his first test start since the 38-38 draw with Scotland in March 2019. Ben Youngs could become the joint most-capped England men’s player of all time, alongside Jason Leonard on 114, after being named on the bench
- Russia captain Viktor Gresev returns in a much-changed pack which sees hooker Dmitrii Parkhomenko rewarded for his two-try haul against Romania with a first start
- Spain welcome back some France-based players in second-row Lucas Guillaume, openside Fred Quercy and full-back Charlie Malie
- Dutch captain Dirk Danen will play his 48th and final test for his country before retiring
- Georgia have made five changes to their forward pack while 18-year-old centre Tornike Kakhoidze could make his test debut off the bench
- Romania make three changes in their backline for this crucial match, including Daniel Plai at fly-half
- Portugal will also have a new fly-half with Jorge Abecassis their only change in the starting line-up that drew with Georgia last weekend
CREDIT: WORLD RUGBY