Italy leap up the Test Rankings

The lack of test rugby since the World Cup means that its been a while since welast publishedour rankings, but after a dramatic Six Nations it is a good time to see how this has affected things.

And the answer is - in terms of places - there has been surprisingly little change, except for one team -Italy- who dramatically leapfrog from 11th to 8th, overtaking South Afrrica, Australia and their great rivals Spain, gaining over 200 ranking points during their impressive 2015 Six Nations campaign.

They are now close behind Wales, and if they repeat the 2015 form next year could well catch the them and even the Americans. The rise of Italy is all the more impressive given thatcalculation systemmeans that teams tend to lose points at this time in the cycle, there being very few Autumn test matches. The only other team to significantly increase their points total isIrelandwho, while remaining fifth, are now very close indeed to fourth place.

ElsewhereFrance- who remained in fourth despite their bronze medal position at the World Cup - now just move into third asCanadahave played no tests since August.Englandalso ever so slightly increase their lead at the top over New Zealand for the same reason.

With no major test tournaments announced until the European Trophy after the summer we are unlikely to see any significant moves in the near future.

Pos

Team

Points

1

England

5028

2

New Zealand

4975

3

France

4931

4

Canada

4884

5

Ireland

4871

6

United States

4693

7

Wales

4582

8

Italy

4316

9

Australia

4309

10

Spain

4292

11

South Africa

4245

12

Scotland

4080

xx

Nomads

3590

13

Samoa

3507

14

Kazakhstan

3413

15

Netherlands

2912

16

Sweden

2884

17

Russia

2023

18

Belgium

1928

19

Germany

1890

20

Japan

1792

21

Hong Kong

1556

22

Finland

1488

23

Switzerland

1445

24

Singapore

1318

25

Kenya

1080

26

Uganda

1045

27

China

932

28

Norway

896

29

Romania

793

30

Trinidad & Tobago.

788

31

Fiji

690

32

Cayman

669

33

Thailand

657

34

Uzbekistan

634

35

Denmark

619

36

Jamaica

582

37

Tonga

519

xx

Caribbean Select

606

38

Philippines

504

39

Luxembourg

481

40

Czech Rep.

472

41

Malaysia

468

42

Laos

448

43

Guyana

431

44

Brasil

392

45

Serbia

348

46

Rwanda

341

47

Barbados

292

48

Bosnia & Herz.

255

49

Austria

241

50

Colombia

195

51

Namibia

185

52

Zambia

179

53

Mayotte

177

54

Bahamas

174

55

Croatia

164

56

St Vincent

130

57

Portugal

123

58

Kyrgyzstan

122

59

Burundi

121

60

Venezuela

104

61

Réunion

89

62

Cambodia

85

63

Botswana

85

64

Hungary

80

65

PNG

66

66

Zimbabwe

56

©Serge PIQUET March 2015