Latest World Rankings: Wales Fall, Argentina Rise

Following the weekend's test action, Wales have fallen to ninth on the World Rugby Rankings with Argentina moving into their highest position since June 2016.

Los Pumas' 33-11 in Cardiff on Saturday saw them jump past Scotland and Wales in the rankings with Wayne Pivac's side falling two places from seventh to ninth. The reigning Six Nations champions are down to ninth in the rankings after they suffered their heaviest ever defeat to Los Pumas and their first of any kind to the South Americans since 2012.

Elsewhere, Australia and France ended their test series in Brisbane with the 14-man Wallabies winning another thriller, 33-30. Even though Les Bleus were unable to double-down on their first test victory over the Wallabies in Australia since 1990 five days earlier, they still finish the week one place higher in the rankings in fifth, while Australia drop to sixth.

Samoa and Tonga remain unmoved in the rankings. This comes after the former made it through to Rugby World Cup 2023 as Oceania 1 with a 37-15 victory in the second match of the two-legged encounter. Samoa won the first match 42-13 and got through 79-28 on aggregate. The 1.71 points gained by 13th place Samoa does, however, see them close the gap on Georgia above them to just 0.15. Tonga hold onto 15th place. New Zealand's 60-13 win over Fiji earned them no additional ranking points.

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🇦🇷 their highest position since June 2016

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Meanwhile, in the Rugby Europe Championship RWC 2023 qualifier, Portugal’s claimed a 49-26 win away to Russia. Their first win over Russia in 10 years which sees them move up to 19th in the rankings. Spain drop to 20th and Russia fall to 23rd, their lowest position since May 2006. Hong Kong and Canada benefited from Russia’s defeat by moving up one place, to 21st and 22nd, respectively.

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