How the Six Nations affected the world rankings

You can debate long and hard about which team progressed the most throughout the Guinness Six Nations, whether it was champions France or runners-up England.

Both teams won four games apiece, with England doing so for the first time in five years. This included the 26-25 round two victory over Les Bleus in the latest instalment of ‘Le Crunch’.

France were three or four dropped passes away from beating England comfortably and landing a Grand Slam, while you could look at it the other way and say that England’s transformation from a team that lost tight games to one that won them, was more impressive.

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Marcus Smith on switching off and supporting his family | RPTV

Marcus Smith opens up on the latest episode of O2 Inside Line: This Rose. Watch the full episode now on RugbyPass TV

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Les Bleus were consistently impressive throughout, taking northern hemisphere rugby to new heights with their blend of power and pace, while England fought doggedly and then finished with a flourish by playing well in patches against flaky Italy before routing the worst Welsh team in history.

A look at the World Rugby Rankings lays it all out in bare facts. But, in truth, the 15 matches had a negligible impact with England the only team to improve their position, moving up to sixth and into the top band of seeds for the 2027 World Cup draw, at the expense of Scotland.

England’s rating increased from 82.31 points at the start of the tournament to 84.73, a gain of 2.42 points. France were the only other team to be in the positive column, adding exactly a point to their pre-Six Nations rating of 88.51. That, however, was not enough for Les Bleus to improve on fourth place.

After having their dreams of a three-peat shattered by the French in Dublin, dethroned champions Ireland lost second place to New Zealand and are now just a third of a point better off than France, in third place with a rating of 89.83 points.

Scotland slipped a place and are now in the second band of seeds as things stand for the World Cup draw, their rating reduced by a fraction under a point to 82.36.

Italy stayed put in 10th but with 0.87 points shaved off their rating, which is now 77.77 points, while Wales sunk to an all-time low of 12th and are closer to 13th-placed Japan in the rankings than Georgia in 11th.

Wales’ whitewash cost them 0.62 of a point and they’re now on 73.39 points – 1.1 behind Georgia, who have once again called for some form of play-off match in a bid to get into the Six Nations, and just 0.44 of a point more than the Brave Blossoms, who they meet in a crucial two-test series in Japan this July.

At present, Wales are precariously hanging onto their place in the second band of seeds (for teams ranked seventh to 12th) but a poor set of results against Eddie Jones’ charges will see them drop further down the rankings, possibly to as low as 14th.

Rewind to 2024, Italy were the team to make the most gains, having 3.48 points added to their rating, on the back of their most successful tournament, which moved them up three places to eighth.

2025 World Rankings – Winners & Losers