With the Rugby World Cup now done and dusted, Ireland have moved to sixth place in the IRB world rankings.
Having been ranked at their lowest ever position heading into the tournament, it will come as a relief to Kidney and company to restore some credibility in the world order and it is a decent reflection of our standing in the game at the moment.
While we all got a little giddy and ahead ourselves after beating Australia in the pool stages, we were all subsequently brought down to earth with a bang after a humbling defeat to Wales in the quarter-finals, with both games giving an insight into what we can do when the mood is right and how far off the pace we can be when it’s not.
They mave have coughed and spluttered their way to the final, but France are the highest ranked northern hemisphere team in third behind New Zealand and Australia, pushing South Africa out of the top three.
Amazingly, Les Bleus would have claimed top spot had they managed to shock the All-Blacks in the final, but the status quo remains intact and New Zealand stay perched at the top of the pile, where they have been for the last two years.
Despite a disastrous tournament off the field and a series of underwhelming performances on it, England lie in fifth place, while probably the most impressive northern hemisphere in the competition, Wales, have fallen to eighth place.
IRB World Rankings (previous ranking position in brackets):
1 (1) New Zealand
2 (2) Australia
3 (3) France
4 (4) South Africa
5 (5) England
6 (7) Ireland
7 (8) Argentina
8 (6) Wales
9 (9) Tonga
10 (10) Scotland
11 (11) Samoa
12 (12) Italy
13 (13) Canada
14 (14) Georgia
15 (15) Japan
16 (16) Fiji
17 (17) USA
18 (18) Romania
19 (19) Namibia
20 (20) Portugal
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