The jubilant Azzurri are now in 11th place after their first-ever triumph over Australia in any of their 19 previous efforts.
Italy had never defeated Australia in any of their 18 prior attempts, but in Florence, they set the record straight with a nail-biting victory by the score of 28-27.
The World Rugby Men’s Rankings powered by Capgemini saw quite a bit of movement over the course of the weekend, but the most noteworthy outcome of the weekend was unquestionably Italy’s victory.
Italy was ahead 28-22 going into the last minute of the match
But when Caderyn Neville over for Australia’s fourth try, it appeared as though they were in for more disappointment.
Ben Donaldson, making his first appearance for the Wallabies, missed a conversion that would have won the game for Australia, and Italy celebrated a historic victory that moved them up one spot to 11th.
They have not been this far up in the rankings since November 18, 2013, and they are now only one and a quarter points behind Japan, the team that is directly above them in the standings. This is the first time that they have been this high up in the rankings since November 18, 2013.
Wales’s hard-fought 20-13 victory over Argentina and Australia’s loss combined to result in a jump of two places, moving them up to seventh place. This victory was another significant one for Wales in the standings.
Australia’s new ranking of eighth is one spot above their all-time low, and Scotland’s new ranking of ninth is similarly a decline of one spot after the country blew a 23-14 lead against New Zealand and lost by a score of 31-23.
The All Blacks, along with France, who won a similarly tense match against South Africa by a score of 30-26, did not pick up enough points from their victory to improve their position and unseat Ireland as the team with the best overall record in the rankings.
After reeling off an 11th straight home win, this time against Fiji, Ireland is still in first place with 90.63 points. France is in second place with 90.01 points, New Zealand is in third place with 89.15 points, and South Africa is in fourth place with 87.81 points.
Samoa make a comeback
Samoa moved up two spots to 12th outside the top 10 after defeating Georgia 20-19 away from home.
The Samoans, who had been defeated 49-17 by Italy the week prior, showed tremendous resiliency.
Fiji drops two spots to 13th and Georgia drops back one spot to 14th, their lowest rankings since January 2020, as both Italy and Samoa move up the rankings.
Los Teros and Romania reconnected this past weekend, but this time in Bucharest, after playing one other twice in Montevideo in July and sharing the two-test series 1-1.
With a 21-16 victory, Los Teros followed up their triumph on their previous visit there in 2018 and are currently ranked higher of the two teams at number 16, with the Oaks falling as low as number 20.
Following their respective victories over Kenya and Hong Kong in the Rugby World Cup Final Qualification Tournament, the USA and Portugal switch places, moving the Men’s Eagles above Os Lobos. But this Friday, with the teams competing for a spot in the tournament next year, 18th place will be on the line.
With a second bonus-point victory of the year, Switzerland maintained its undefeated start to the Rugby Europe Trophy. The Swiss, who defeated Lithuania 45–6, are in first place with a maximum of 10 points out of a possible 10.
The win moved Switzerland ahead of the Dutch and into 28th position, as the Netherlands also suffered a home loss to Canada, 37-25.
Georgia drops one spot to 14th, its lowest position since January 2020, while Ji drops two spots to 13th.
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