Following the second weekend of the Nations Championship and Nations Cup, the World Rugby Men's Rankings have seen a significant positional swap between England and Scotland, with Steve Borthwick's side rising to fifth place in the world rankings after a historic 73-8 victory over Fiji in Liverpool.
England played their first-ever match at Liverpool's Hill Dickinson Stadium, securing their largest win in recent memory against Fiji. The emphatic result allowed Borthwick's team to gain one place in the standings, overtaking their oldest international rivals Scotland, who dropped to sixth.
Scotland, coming off an opening-weekend win over Argentina, paid the price for a 42-28 defeat away to South Africa in Pretoria. The Springboks, firmly entrenched at the top of the world rankings, increased their lead over New Zealand's All Blacks to 2.92 rating points, further consolidating their number-one position.
South Africa remain atop the international rankings, with New Zealand and Ireland holding their positions after victories over Italy and Japan respectively. France closed the gap on the top three with a 42-21 win over Australia at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium, gaining 0.68 points.
Argentina stay seventh despite improving their rating to 84.06 points, thanks to a 35-21 win over Wales. Outside the top ten, Wales dropped one place to 12th, while Japan moved up to 11th. Spain were the weekend's biggest climbers, gaining four places to reach 16th after a 32-19 win over Tonga in the Nations Cup.
The rankings update reflects an increasingly competitive global rugby landscape, with several nations climbing the ladder thanks to the new international competition formats.
Sources
- [World Rugby - England and Scotland trade places in World Rugby Men's Rankings](https://www.world.rugby/news/1045589/england-and-scotland-trade-places-in-world-rugby-mens-rankings)
