World Rugby Rankings show how far Wales have fallen

As a sign of how far they have fallen, a record win over England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, would still not be enough to lift Wales back into the world’s top 10 ranked nations.

Wales’ record win over England at Twickenham is the 12-point victory in 1976, when they were in their pomp, but even if they improve on that and meet the highest World Rugby threshold of 16-plus points, and Italy lose by the same margin at home to Scotland, they would still be behind the 10th-placed Azzurri in the rankings.

Steve Tandy’s men head into the 2026 Guinness Men’s Nations in a lowly 11th place, with the deficit of 4.75 points between themselves and Italy too much to make up.

Having been on top of the world, albeit very briefly on the eve of Rugby World Cup 2019, Wales slipped to a record low of 14th when they were beaten in the first summer Test against Japan last year.

Things haven’t got much better since then, but a win in the return match with Japan, which ended their record 18- losing streak, and a further narrow victory over the Brave Blossoms in November, has seen them edge back towards the top 10.

But unless they spring a surprise and pull off a win between rounds one to four, they may have to wait until the final weekend encounter with Italy to get a chance of breaking through the glass ceiling and joining the elite again.

At the top of the rankings, South Africa and New Zealand cannot be toppled from the first two positions, as England won’t receive any points for what is perceived to be a home banker.

While a record win for Wales wouldn’t affect their position, it could lead to England dropping to fifth, if France enjoy a narrow win over Ireland in Thursday night’s Six Nations curtain-raiser in Paris.

Ireland could also end the weekend in third at England’s expense, as long as they turn over the French and Wales do them a favour in the final game of the weekend.

Before England vs Wales, Italy host Scotland. A home win would result in the teams swapping places in the rankings, with the Azzurri moving up to ninth.

Victory for Scotland would have to be by 16 points or more for them to improve their position, with a gain of two places, to seventh, on the line.

All four Rugby Europe Men’s Championship matches also count towards the rankings, with the match between Belgium, ranked 21st, and Portugal, ranked 20th, looking the toughest one to call.

Perennial champions Georgia travel to Switzerland, who they thrashed 110-0 in last year’s competition, runners-up Spain are the visitors to Amsterdam for new Netherlands head coach Bryan Easson’s first match in charge, while Germany host Romania in Heidelberg, after the match was moved from Kassel due to a frozen pitch.

World Rugby Men’s Rankings

1. South Africa 93.94
2. New Zealand 90.33
3. England 89.41
4. Ireland 87.97
5. France 87.24
6. Argentina 84.97
7. Australia 81.53
8. Fiji 81.14
9. Scotland 80.22
10. Italy 78.98
11. Wales 74.23
12. Japan 74.09