On the occasion of its weekly update on Monday, the World Rugby ranking will see France point to first place, an unprecedented fact since its establishment in 2003.
The XV of France will be able to thank Ireland and Wales! Hardly victorious over Japan this Saturday in Tokyo, Fabien Galthié’s players will discover this Monday the feeling of being the best team in the world. While New Zealand had dislodged the Blues from second place last week thanks to their success against the XV of Clover in the first test match of the summer tour, the game changed this Saturday thanks to the rebellion of the nations of the Northern Hemisphere.
In effect, only a scenario could allow the Blues to settle at the top of the world hierarchy for the first time since the establishment of the world ranking by the International Rugby Board, now called World Rugby, in 2003. In addition to the tricolor success against Japan, both New Zealand and South Africa had to bow on their lands this Saturday… but also not seeing Ireland win against the All Blacks by more than fifteen points.
🌍🔝🇫🇷🔥 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐄́𝐑𝐎 𝟏 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐔𝐗!#XVdeFrance #Don’tDoXV pic.twitter.com/gACZo6zHji
– France Rugby (@FranceRugby) July 9, 2022
Ireland and Wales helped France
A few minutes after the success of the Blues against the Brave Blossoms, the Leek XV took advantage of a lackluster match from New Zealanders very quickly outnumbered to sign their first victory on the lawn of the All Blacks… with a margin limited to eleven points thanks to the test signed Will Jordan in the last minutes. It is yet another reversal of the situation which has allowed the Wales to win for the first time in South Africathanks to an essay by Josh Adams moments from the siren.
With these results combined and applied to the zero-sum game that is the ranking maintained by World Rugby, the XV of France will take the lead with 89.41 points ahead of Ireland (88.79 points) and South Africa (88.61 points). After England, New Zealand, South Africa, Wales and Ireland, France will become the sixth nation to be able to boast of being the world number 1.
