Ireland head to World Cup as number one ranked team

Ireland have claimed the top position in the World Rugby Rankings for the first time in history following their 19-10 win over Wales in their encounter at Aviva Stadium last weekend.

The top position has seen a change for the third time in five weeks with first New Zealand dethroned by Wales after holding the pole position for a decade before the All Blacks reclaimed their place and now it is Joe Schmidt side's turn to rise to the top ahead of the World Cup.

Ireland's 19-10 win over Wales was orchestrated by tries from Rob Kearney, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan as they now have 89.47 rating points closely followed by New Zealand with 89.40 rating points.

England's 37-0 win over Italy in Newcastle was enough for them to retain the third place with 88.13 rating points while South Africa's 7-41 victory over Japan saw them rise to fourth place with 87.34 rating points and Wales are at fifth 87.32 points.

Australia's 34-15 win over Samoa did not affect their ranking position as they continue to remain at sixth place with other teams to make improvement in the table are USA and Portugal, who now are at 13 and 21 respectively.

World Rugby Top 10 Rankings:

Rank	Team	Rating Points
1	Ireland	89.47
2	New Zealand	89.40
3	England	88.13
4	South Africa	87.34
5	Wales	87.32
6	Australia	84.05
7	Scotland	81.00
8	France	79.72
9	Fiji	77.43
10	Japan	76.70