England reign supreme in Zurich World Rankings

Clive Woodward's world champion England side unsurprisingly retained their No.1 spot in the latest Zurich World Rankings, a position they have held for 12 months now, and are likely to retain that spot well into 2004.

No.1: No mistake, England unchallenged

England first went to No.1 in November 2002 and they have held that spot ever since, losing just once in 17 games in 2003 in the process setting a new benchmark of 1339 rankings points.

World Cup runners-up Australia meanwhile have to be content with third place behing losing semi-finalists New Zealand who remain static despite their disappointment after losing the semi-final.

Zurich World Rankings (as of Nov 28, 2003)

(-) 1 England 1339 (+17)
(-) 2 New Zealand 1315 (-3)
(+1) 3 Australia 1199 (+52)
(-1) 4 France 1138 (-9)
(-) 5 South Africa 1006 (-23)
(-) 6 Ireland 931 (-18)
7 Argentina 873
(-) 8 Scotland 749 (-13)
(-) 9 Wales 714 (-10)
10 Samoa 689
11 Fiji 568
12 Canada 557
13 Italy 556
14 Tonga 518
15 United States 444
16 Japan 436
17 Romania 348
18 Georgia 338
19 Uruguay 298
20 Portugal 292

21 Namibia 291
22 Russia 276
23 Morocco 261
24 Tunisia 254
25 Chile 251
26= Cote d'Ivoire 237
26= Czech Republic 237
28 Spain 234
29 Korea 233
30 Ukraine 232
31 Germany 221
32 Netherlands 218
33= Cook Islands 216
33= Denmark 216
35 Poland 215
36 Switzerland 211
37 Slovenia 208
38 Latvia 203
39 Croatia 202
40= Zimbabwe 196
40= Sweden 196

42= Belgium 193
42= Papua New Guinea 193
44 Hong Kong 188
45 Brazil 187
46 Chinese Taipei 185
47 Paraguay 171
48 Madagascar 173
49 Kenya 164
50 Arabian Gulf 163
51 Yugoslavia 150
52 Trinidad and Tobago 147
53 Austria 135
54 Hungary 133
55 Bermuda 132
56 Andorra 131
57 Malaysia 126
57 Moldova 126
59 Thailand 125
60 China 119

61 Singapore 112
62 Zambia 104
63 Uganda 101
64 Lithuania 98
65 Venezuela 94
66 Kazakhstan 91
67 Sri Lanka 90
68 Botswana 88
69= Cameroon 79
69= Cayman Islands 79
71 Israel 77
72 Niue Island 76
73 Tahiti 68
74 Malta 66
75= Bosnia 63
75= Luxembourg 63
77 Bulgaria 58
78 Jamaica 48
79= Solomon Islands 37
79= Peru 37
81 Monaco 36
82 Swaziland 34
83 Barbados 29
84= Mexico 26
84= Norway 26
86= Bahamas 24
86= Guyana 24
88= Vanuatu 23
88= Colombia 23