Wales have ended the Six Nations outside of the top two tiers in the world rankings after the shock defeat against Italy.
Wayne Pivac's side sit ninth in the rankings table now, dropping below Argentina. France's Grand Slam has seen them move above the All Blacks to be the official second best team in the world behind South Africa.
Ireland finish the tournament in fourth, England are fifth and Scotland are seventh. Italy remain 14th in the rankings behind the likes of Japan and Georgia. There is now a huge split of nearly four rankings points between fourth-placed Ireland and England in fifth.
Read more: Wayne Pivac told defeat to Italy is a "sackable offence".
Wales' year doesn't get any easier from here, with the squad due to travel to South Africa for a three-Test series in July. While Pivac's position appears to be safe for now after Six Nations title success last season, heavy defeats and a repeat of the abject performance in Cardiff on Saturday could see that picture change.
Despite their lowly ranking, Wales are one of the top seeds at next year's World Cup after the rankings from the start of last year were used for the draw due to the Covid pandemic. Wales were in fourth at that point, having previously risen to the top of the rankings under Warren Gatland in the summer of 2019.
The new World Rugby rankings table
| 1 | |
South Africa | 90.61 | |
| 2 | (↑3) | France | 88.88 | (+0.33) |
| 3 | (↓2) | New Zealand | 88.75 | |
| 4 | |
Ireland | 88.22 | (+0.13) |
| 5 | |
England | 84.50 | (-0.33) |
| 6 | |
Australia | 83.92 | |
| 7 | |
Scotland | 81.80 | (-0.13) |
| 8 | (↑9) | Argentina | 80.58 | |
| 9 | (↓8) | Wales | 79.28 | (-2.00) |
| 10 | |
Japan | 78.26 | |
| 11 | |
Fiji | 76.62 | |
| 12 | (↑13) | Georgia | 73.78 | (+0.32) |
| 13 | (↓12) | Samoa | 73.59 | |
| 14 | |
Italy | 72.33 | (+2.00) |
| 15 | |
Spain | 68.26 | (-0.32) |
