England slip to fifth after Wallabies defeat
Martin Johnson's England are now fifth in the world rankings
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Tuesday, 18, Nov 2008 09:09
Following their 14-28 defeat to Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, England have dropped to fifth behind Argentina in the latest IRB world rankings.
Poor discipline from Martin Johnson's side at the weekend resulted in their opponents kicking seven penalties for a total of 21 points, as the sides scored just one try each in a hard-fought encounter.
But the comprehensive defeat for England, coupled with Argentina's 22-14 victory in Italy, means they slip out of the world's elite four teams at a crucial time, with the South Americans replacing them in fourth.
There are now just two games to go, against world champions South Africa and against world number one side New Zealand, until the draw for the group stages of the 2011 World Cup.
And that draw will be seeded according to the teams' world rankings - meaning that if the groups were decided now, England could be placed alongside one of the All Blacks, South Africa or Australia.
The other significant borderline in terms of world rankings sees Scotland remain ninth, behind France (sixth), Wales (seventh) and Ireland (eighth).
If those rankings stay the same then Scotland would be placed among the third seeds in the draw for the 2011 groups - making them outsiders to continue their record of having successfully qualified for the quarter-finals at every World Cup.