Scott Williams’ solo try not only helped Sam Warburton’s side clinch their first Triple Crown on English soil, but also rocketed them up the world rankings as they stayed on course for a potential Grand Slam showdown with France at the Millennium Stadium on 17 March.
Before then, however, Wales have to entertain Italy at the Millennium Stadium and the French have back-to-back home games with Ireland and England to negotiate in order to maintain their 100% records.
A third successive RBS 6 Nations championship victory also pushed Wales further towards a coveted top four ranking at the end of this year, which will guarantee the best teams in the world aren’t drawn in the same Pool for he 2015 Rugby World Cup
England had been slowly closing the gap on South Africa in fourth place, but their first defeat under interim coach Stuart Lancaster saw them slip back behind Wales. Now Warburton’s men have two games to try to edge closer to the top four, with the home clash with third placed France critical to their cause.
These were the only positional changes in the rankings as a result of the third round of RBS Six Nations action, although France and Ireland did improve their ratings slightly after overcoming Scotland and Italy respectively.
France, the highest ranked northern hemisphere nation, had to dig deep to beat Scotland 23-17 at Murrayfield on Sunday, a result which increased their slender cushion over South Africa to seventh tenths.
Scotland’s fifth successive Test defeat didn’t alter their position of 11th, but slips them further behind Samoa. This leaves only Italy, of the 12 nations to qualify automatically for RWC 2015, below them after they suffered a heavy 42-10 loss to Ireland in Dublin.
Wales, though, were not the only team on the rise in the IRB World Rankings as Romania have also climbed one to 17th. They swapped places with USA, after beating Russia 25-0 in their European Nations Cup encounter in Sochi, in a game that saw two Welsh coaches going head to head.
Kingsley Jones was in charge of the Russians, who fell two places to 22nd with Namibia and Uruguay the beneficiaries, and Lynn Howells headed Romania for the first time..
IRB WORLD RANKINGS TOP 20
1 NEW ZEALANDÂ Â 91.43
2 AUSTRALIAÂ Â 87.99
3 FRANCEÂ Â 85.06
4 SOUTH AFRICAÂ Â 84.34
5 WALESÂ Â 82.62
6 ENGLANDÂ Â 81.34
7 ARGENTINAÂ Â 80.28
8 IRELANDÂ Â 79.44
9 TONGAÂ Â 76.63
10 SAMOAÂ Â 75.81
11 SCOTLANDÂ Â 73.33
12 ITALYÂ Â 73.33
13 CANADAÂ Â 72.92
14 JAPANÂ Â 70.45
15 GEORGIAÂ Â 69.32
16 FIJIÂ Â 68.78
17 ROMANIAÂ Â 65.79
18 USAÂ Â 65.63
19 SPAINÂ Â 62.72
20 NAMIBIAÂ Â 61.24
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