No longer 3rd

[Sandydragon]

Following the weekends games, England have leapt into 3rd place with Wales dropping to 4th. A slightly provoking article in the fail, but does anyone really give a toss?

[francoisfou]

Following the weekends games, England have leapt into 3rd place with Wales dropping to 4th. A slightly provoking article in the fail, but does anyone really give a toss?

No, not for the moment!

[Buggaluggs]

3rd is for losers. Fourth is where it's at.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Sort of vaguely annoying, but we did what we needed to do - we won our match. Beat England and we'll get back to where we were. In fact if France beat them they'll no doubt drop down again.

But there's no point in worrying about rankings in the short term. They're a broad-strokes kind of thing.

[Zhivago]

In fairness, England deserve to be ahead. Beating Ireland away is quite a feat.

[Mikey Brown]

What a strange thread.

[Sandydragon]

In fairness, England deserve to be ahead. Beating Ireland away is quite a feat.

Completely agree.

[Sandydragon]

What a strange thread.

I probably should have posted a link to the Fail article. The tone was slightly offended that despite winning, Wales dropped a place. That fact the England picked up more points from beating a higher ranked team away from home than Wales did for beating a lower ranked one is something that seems to have missed many of our journalists.

But aside from that, I’m curious if anyone actually cares a sour world rankings? We all know who the top teams are.

[normanski]

What a strange thread.

I probably should have posted a link to the Fail article. The tone was slightly offended that despite winning, Wales dropped a place. That fact the England picked up more points from beating a higher ranked team away from home than Wales did for beating a lower ranked one is something that seems to have missed many of our journalists.

But aside from that, I’m curious if anyone actually cares a sour world rankings? We all know who the top teams are.

They don’t mean a thing at this stage of the year except for the trolls who inhabit every message board and try to wind up other posters.

They have more relevance going into the RWC but as far as I can see they only matter when the draw is made for the pool seedlings two years before the Finals.

I think too, Wales will be happy to be a little more under the radar rather in the spotlight like England now.

We gain a small increase in points if we duly beat Italy by a good margin and the pressure is now on England to justify their position with a good win against Les Bleus. Mind you if France were to upset the odds (not very likely) then England would be back to where they started!

[Mikey Brown]

What a strange thread.

I probably should have posted a link to the Fail article. The tone was slightly offended that despite winning, Wales dropped a place. That fact the England picked up more points from beating a higher ranked team away from home than Wales did for beating a lower ranked one is something that seems to have missed many of our journalists.

But aside from that, I’m curious if anyone actually cares a sour world rankings? We all know who the top teams are.

It makes a whole lot more sense with that context.

To be honest I was quite surprised on reading this to find that a change in the rankings seems to quite accurately align with the form/performances of the teams. It’s pretty tight between England and Wales. Whoever wins that game is likely to go ahead of the other and that actually seems about right.

[Son of Mathonwy]

There's really no point in worrying about ranking positions mid-tournament.

[MrK]

No longer 3rd

[Son of Mathonwy]

No longer 3rd

End if championship - that's the right time to check the rankings.

[normanski]

No longer 3rd

Well spotted!

[Graigwen]

Ranking is still not very important.

[normanski]

Ranking is still not very important.

Unless you are number one this October!