A championship full of drama has led to changes in the global standings
England have dropped significantly in the world rankings since the start of the Six Nations(Image: 2026 The RFU)
After five weekends of remarkable rugby drama, the Six Nations reached its thrilling conclusion on Saturday night, with France sealing the title in the final seconds of the tournament finale in Paris.
Thomas Ramos’ last-gasp penalty secured a dramatic 48-46 win for Les Bleus over England and was a fitting end to a tournament campaign that has already been widely hailed as the greatest of all time. Each weekend of the championship threw up fine individual performances, shock results and huge talking points, with no team safe from upsets.
While Wales went into the tournament billed as the whipping boys, Steve Tandy’s side grew in confidence week on week and brushed off bruising defeats to England and France to deliver fine performances against Scotland and Ireland before getting a first Six Nations win in three years against Italy on Saturday.
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The Italians, meanwhile, recorded their first-ever win over England, with Steve Borthwick’s side delivering their worst ever return from a Six Nations campaign as they ended the tournament with one victory to their name, having come into the championship backed as potential Grand Slam winners.
With Ireland, Scotland and France all heading into the final weekend in contention for the title before Les Bleus’ triumph, the eventful championship campaign has shaken up the global order, with the latest world rankings looking rather different to how they did at the start of the tournament.
England started the Six Nations as the highest-ranked northern hemisphere team in the world, occupying third place overall behind South Africa and New Zealand. They were followed by Ireland in fourth and France in fifth, while further down the table, Scotland started the championship in ninth with Italy in 10th and Wales in 11th.
However, things have changed following the conclusion of the tournament, with England slipping three places to finish the Six Nations as sixth in the world, with their rating falling by five-and-a-half ranking points, from 89.41 to 83.91.
Instead, Ireland are now the top-ranked northern hemisphere team, finishing the tournament in third place and just 1.26 ranking points behind the All Blacks in second. France, meanwhile, may have retained their Six Nations title but they sit one place behind Andy Farrell’s side in fourth position, having been fifth at the start of the championship.
Scotland have had the most significant rise of any of the Six Nations sides, climbing two places to seventh in the world having been boosted by big wins over England and France. While they actually lost ranking points in their Super Saturday defeat to Ireland, they have closed the gap on Borthwick’s men to just 1.01 points.
Italy and Wales, meanwhile, are non-movers since the start of the tournament as they sit in 10th and 11th respectively. However, Tandy’s side were the only team to rise up the rankings on the final weekend, with their victory over the Azzurri seeing them climb from 12th to 11th, moving above Japan in the process.
The only other big change comes below Wales in the global standings, with Portugal’s shock win over Georgia in the final of the Rugby Europe Championship on Sunday seeing them rise two places to 14th, overtaking both Uruguay and the United States.
The Georgians, meanwhile, have not dropped any places and remain in 13th but they lost 1.54 ranking points in the defeat, leaving them further adrift of Wales who they previously challenged to an unofficial Six Nations play-off.
Latest World Rugby rankings (March 16)
- South Africa – 93.94
- New Zealand – 90.33
- Ireland – 89.07 (+0.18)
- France – 87.46 (+0.43)
- Argentina – 84.97
- England – 83.91 (-0.43)
- Scotland – 82.90 (-0.18)
- Australia – 81.53
- Fiji – 81.14
- Italy – 79.64 (-1.45)
- Wales – 75.07 (+1.45) – UP 1
- Japan – 74.09 – DOWN 1
- Georgia – 71.94 (-1.54)
- Portugal – 69.64 (+1.54) – UP 2
- Uruguay – 69.19 – DOWN 1
- USA – 68.26 – DOWN 1
- Spain – 67.51 (+0.02)
- Chile – 66.72
- Tonga – 66.66
- Samoa – 66.43
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