Rugby: World rankings ridiculed again as struggling Ireland handed opportunity to take No 1 this weekend

By Josh Raisey of RugbyPass.com

Just seven days after being annihilated by England at Twickenham, embarrassed Ireland remarkably have the chance to climb to No 1 in the world rankings when they face Wales at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.

That is a bizarre situation given how terribly poor Joe Schmidt's side were in London and indeed throughout 2019. It was the second loss to England this year and Ireland also shipped a hefty 25-7 loss to Wales in Cardiff in March.

With Warren Gatland only retaining one player – James Davies – from the side that beat England two weeks ago, there is a possibility that a reeling Ireland could pull off a victory to claim top spot, albeit they must win by more than 15 points.

Regardless of whether they win or not on Saturday, there is one thing that the rugby world can agree on – that Ireland are certainly not the best team in the world at the moment. The criticism that Wales have received since moving to No1 will pale into insignificance should Ireland take their place.

Schmidt's side were legitimately the form team in the world at the end of 2018 after winning the Grand Slam, winning a series in Australia and then beating the All Blacks, but that is no longer the case. At this point in time, Wales have a way much stronger shout for being No 1.

As expected, there has been quite a humorous and impassioned response to this situation on social media, with the rankings understandably deemed to be farcical by some fans.

With many northern hemisphere sides naming experimental and weakened sides in these World Cup warm-ups, it has meant that results can go any way, creating absurd ramifications for the world rankings. This has been the reaction:

Ah stop it now with your rubbish mythical rankings. You do rugby no benefit with this bullshit. Whatever mechanism you use to calculate these is total nonsense.

— MOL (@grumpymol) August 29, 2019

Lads, will you just stop with this shite ... https://t.co/KeW0jsws1a

— Brian Donnelly (@bptd1234) August 29, 2019

Lol I'm Irish, Wales are playing better than us

Here's hoping for the win though

— Colum Ritchie (@ColumRitchie) August 29, 2019

Had Ireland risen to the top of the rankings after beating the All Blacks last November in Dublin, very few people would have complained as they had just beaten the then incumbent No 1 side.

But the timing of this weekend's shot at securing the No 1 status had struck many people as bizarre, the opportunity coming a week after conceding their most points ever against England.

The rankings have been contentious in recent weeks with even World Rugby vice-chairman Agustin Pichot ridiculing them, and it will only get worse should Ireland win by 15 points or more on Saturday.

This article first appeared on RugbyPass.com and is republished with permission