Ireland remain in fourth place in the World Rugby rankings despite the victory over France on Saturday. Joe Schmidt's men were leapfrogged by England after the first weekend of the Six Nations owing to Ireland's less than comprehensive win over the low ranked Italians and England's impressive win in Cardiff.
There was a possibility that a win over France would return Ireland to third place but England's comprehensive victory over Italy has been enough for them to stay ahead (for the time being at least).
England are now just .17 ahead of Ireland heading into the big clash in Dublin in two weeks time. Yes, it's minuscule in comparison to everything else that a win against England would bring but Ireland will more than likely be the third best country in the world should we claim a win in the Aviva on March 1st.
WORLD RUGBY RANKINGS (as of Monday, February 16):
Last week's positions in brackets -
1(1) New Zealand 93.70 rating points
2(2) South Africa 88.23
3(3) England 85.83
4(4) IRELAND 85.66
5(5) Australia 82.95
6(6) Wales 81.71
7(7) France 80.09
8(8) Argentina 78.23
9(9) Scotland 77.11
10(10) Samoa 75.39
