Steve Hansen and his men have consolidated their position despite last seasons disappointing Six Nations finish. New Zealand remain top, Australia are in second spot, and England are in third. Wales will take on all three in their build up to next years Rugby World Cup in Australia next October.Altogether, Wales have sixteen international fixtures in the build up to the tournament. Next month sees the autumn international series, with Wales taking on Romania (ranked 16), Fiji (ranked 12), Canada (ranked 11), and then the big one- The All Blacks at the Millennium Stadium.
Zurich World Rankings (up to and including October 1)
1 New Zealand 1219 2 Australia 1171 3 England 1164 4 South Africa 1109 5 France 1068 6 Ireland 823 (-11) 7 Scotland 797 8 Wales 7599 Argentina 736 10 Samoa 680 11 Canada 599(+1) 12 Italy 584 (+2)(-1) 13 Fiji 583 14 Tonga 501 15 Japan 483 16 Romania 373 (+5) 17 Georgia 357 (-4) 18 United States 345 19 Namibia 297 (+1 )20 Uruguay 295 (+6) 21 Russia 269 (+3)(+1) 22= Korea 261(+1) 22= Portugal 261(-2) 24 Chile 260 (-2) 25 Tunisia 256 (+3)(-1) 26 Spain 253 (-2) 27 Morocco 251 28= Poland 248 28= Netherlands 248 (+1) 30 Cote d’Ivorie 240(+1) 31 Cook Islands 237 (-2) 32 Zimbabwe 229 (-16) 33 Czech Republic 225 34 Ukraine 214 35= Croatia 211 35= Germany 211 37 Denmark 210 38 Sweden 200 39= Chinese Taipei 199 39= Slovenia 199 41 Switzerland 196 42 Brazil 195 43 Latvia 191 44 Hong Kong 190 45= Belgium 186 45= Papua New Guinea 186 47 Paraguay 178 48 Arabian Gulf 172 49 Austria 17050= Yugoslavia 169 50= Madagascar 169(-4) 52 Kenya 166 (-11 )53= Trinidad & Tobago 147 53= Malaysia 147 55 Hungary 139 56 Sri Lanka 135 57 Bermuda 132 58 Andorra 131 59 China 119 60 Botswana 116 61 Moldova 108 62 Lithuania 101 63 Venezuela 93 64 Singapore 88 65 Zambia 83 66= Cayman Islands 79(+1) 66= Cameroon 79 (+1)(-1) 68= Thailand 78(-1) 68= Israel 78(-1) 68= Kazakhstan 78(+1) 71 Uganda 76 (+6)(-1) 72 Tahiti 72 73 Bosnia 68 74 Bulgaria 56 75 Niue Island 55 76 Jamaica 48 77 Luxembourg 447 8 Solomon Islands 37 79 Monaco 36 80 Peru 32 81 Barbados 29 82= Mexico 26 82= Swaziland 26 82= Malta 26 82= Norway 26 86= Bahamas 24 86= Guyana 24 88 Vanuatu 23 89 Colombia 21
