Wales have dropped down to ninth in the World Rugby rankings following their series defeat to Argentina.
Despite having won the Six Nations earlier this year, Wayne Pivac’s team now find themselves outside the top two tiers.
That’s a consequence of their disappointing showing against the Pumas in the two Tests at the Principality Stadium this month.
Read more: What Wales just found out about their back-up team
After drawing the opening fixture 20-20 versus 14 men, they were then well beaten in last Saturday’s return match, going down 33-11.
That has seen them drop two places, from seventh to ninth in the world rankings. They were sixth at the end of the successful Six Nations campaign earlier this year.
Both Argentina and Scotland have jumped above them, with Japan not that far behind now in tenth spot.
Rising back up the ranks won’t be easy either, with New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji and Australia lying in wait as autumn opponents.
Fortunately, dropping outside the top eight won’t have any impact on Wales in terms of the 2023 World Cup.
The seedings for that tournament were based on world rankings in January 2020 and, as such, Pivac’s team were among the top seeds, having been in the first four at the time, along with South Africa, New Zealand and England.
That saw them being grouped with Australia, Fiji, Europe 1 and a final qualifier winner in Pool 3 of the World Cup which will be staged in France from September 8 to October 28 in 2023.
Elsewhere in the rankings, the top four remain unchanged, with South Africa going into the Test series against the British & Irish Lions as the No 1 team in the world.
France are now above Australia in the list, despite the Wallabies having won this month’s Test series between the two countries 2-1 Down Under.
World Rugby Rankings
1. South Africa - 94.20
2. New Zealand - 88.95
3. England - 85.44
4. Ireland - 84.85
5. France - 83.87
6. Australia - 83.48
7. Argentina - 83.15
8. Scotland - 82.02
9. Wales - 80.59
10. Japan - 79.13
- For the latest rugby updates sent straight to your inbox, you can sign up to our Lions ROAR or Welsh rugby newsletters.
