World Cup Power Rankings

[Chistera]

The Telegraph ranked all the WC teams from n.20 to n.1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/rugby-world-cup/11848212/Rugby-World-Cup-2015-contenders-ranked-and-rated.htmlThere's its ranking with commentary.
It is, from the worst to the best team: Uruguay - Namibia - Romania - Canada - USA - Georgia - Japan - Tonga - Italy - Fidji - Samoa - France - Scotland - Argentina - Ireland - Wales - South Africa - Australia - England - New Zealand.
This was published after this weekend's games. I'm surprised to see that Wales didn't take a dip after losing two of its key players for the whole competition. I'd rank Wales just behind Argentina. France behind Scotland is unexpected, it's fair in terms of quality of play but we still beat them despite a poor game last Saturday so I'd swap these two. Other than that, Samoa's too high (Fidji's better imo) and Georgia's too low (better than Japan I think)
Excluding Wales, the top 5 seems really undecided behind New-Zealand, I just might rank South Africa higher up.

 

[Sotavalta]

It is amazing how underrated South Africa is after the rugby championship. I understand that we fell in the rankings, but a lot of people don't even see us making it past the quarter finals in the World Cup.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

TBF they have us 4th and can only work off of recent match results..

 

[TRF_heineken]

TBF they have us 4th and can only work off of recent match results..

That's why I don't even bother reading most of these articles. Because they don't mean anything. Most of these writers have nothing better to do, and now try to write something while waiting in anticipation for the World Cup to start. So they write these articles to get people to read their opinionated one-eyed stories with the hope that those readers will continue to read their articles by the time the World Cup starts.

In the past 6 weeks SA moved in the rankings from 2nd - 5th - 3rd.

 

[Sotavalta]

TBF they have us 4th and can only work off of recent match results..

I understand and do not have a problem with our place in the rankings. I know we made mistakes and did not play very well the last few matches, but I just noticed that most people don't see us as a real "threat" for the WC.

 

[GoTheNaki]

It is amazing how underrated South Africa is after the rugby championship. I understand that we fell in the rankings, but a lot of people don't even see us making it past the quarter finals in the World Cup.

I don't underrate them in the slightest... But your QF will be vs Aus/England/Wales... So, well, I can see some form of logic?

Tbh, I don't know what to expect from your 9 to 15... I know what your forward pack is going to do. I think everyone does.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

That's why I don't even bother reading most of these articles. Because they don't mean anything. Most of these writers have nothing better to do, and now try to write something while waiting in anticipation for the World Cup to start. So they write these articles to get people to read their opinionated one-eyed stories with the hope that those readers will continue to read their articles by the time the World Cup starts.

In the past 6 weeks SA moved in the rankings from 2nd - 5th - 3rd.

Agree about some of the writers but I also think some people need to remember what a power ranking actually means:
It's a way of capturing up and down trends based on form / recent performance, whilst also considering overall quality. It doesn't mean you're only the 4th best team in the world just because you're 4th in a power ranking, so I don't understand why people get worked up about it.

It has to take into account how other teams are doing. You could be winning each game you play and still in theory drop down the rankings if there are other teams winning and doing it more convincingly than you are.