“Laughable!” – Why Ireland moved above France in ‘nonsense’ rankings despite Paris battering

A welcome sight!

With England in fourth place before the game, the victory gave Ireland a sizeable 2.09 points, which saw them leapfrog England and France, and move from fifth to third.

Despite France's win over Italy, the Azzurri's lowly ranking of 10th meant that Les Bleus could not stop their fall from third to fourth.

However, the ranking system has come in for some criticism, given how dominant the French were against Ireland in the opening game of the Six Nations.

One fan quipped: "How bad is this metric? Got smashed by France a few weeks ago, who was already in front on the rankings and havent lost since, but all of a sudden move past them".

Another wrote: "Ireland fan here, but seriously what is the metric used that put Ireland ahead of France? Doesn’t make sense."

After Ireland's win, a delighted Andy Farrell said: "What that accumulated to was some fantastic rugby that was broken-field stuff.

"We got them on the break, made line-breaks from deep within our own half and ground it out on their line.

"The telling parts of Stu McCloskey chasing Marcus back and being able to put him in touch just shows the fight and the Rob Baloucoune one [turnover] on the far side shows the fight and the spirit these lads have got for one another and what it means to them."