Georgia has made a giant leap in the World Rugby ranking after its unbeaten tour of the Pacific in the June Test window.
Their win over Fiji last weekend has seen them placed in the 11th position. Fiji remains on 10th.
Not many sides keep Fiji try-less but Georgia did that as they finished their first ever Pacific islands tour unbeaten. The Lelos won 14-3 at the ANZ Stadium in Suva, and as a result they now find themselves on 75.23 rating points, which takes them above Japan and into a new record high of 11th in the rankings. .
The win over Fiji came on the back of a draw against Samoa in their first match on Pacific soil which was then followed a week later by a narrow 23-20 victory over Tonga.
“This tour was always about doing something special, something no other Georgian Rugby team had done and that was to come down and win in the Pacific Islands,” said proud Lelos head coach Milton Haig.
Meanwhile, a dominant performance from France in Argentina has resulted in a shake-up in the top 10 of the World Rugby Rankings, with Les Bleus up two places and Los Pumas falling to their lowest position for 16 months.
While England rewrote the record books in completing a 3-0 series win over Australia, perhaps the most eye-catching performance of the weekend came from a French team who’ve had to take a few steps back to go forward under head coach Guy Noves.
Six days after slipping to their lowest position of ninth since the World Rugby Rankings, Les Bleus bounced back in style to win 27-0 against the same to lift them up two places in the rankings to seventh.
By contrast Argentina were the biggest losers of the weekend from a rankings perspective, dropping four places to go from fifth to ninth.
Wales and Ireland, despite being beaten by New Zealand and South Africa, benefitted from Argentina’s demise by moving up one place to fifth and sixth respectively.
At the top, it’s a case of as you were with New Zealand, England, South Africa and Australia
Italy remains in 13th, but Samoa take 14th spot off Tonga after a 30-10 win over the ‘Ikale Tale in the Pacific Nations Cup. USA moving ahead of Canada and back into 17th.
