Sir Clive Woodward believes it's a 'blessing' Wales don't head into next Saturday's clash with England in Cardiff as the number one side in the world.
And that's because the Warren Gatland's Six Nations Grand Slam winners showed at Twickenham on the weekend they're clearly not.
Wales went to the summit of the global rankings on Saturday for the first time in their history when the All Blacks were knocked off their perch when beaten 47-26 by Australia in Perth.
But their stay at the top lasted just 27 hours when beaten 33-19 by England in their opening warm-up game for next month's World Cup in Japan.
You can see how the new World Rugby rankings now look today here .
England's 2003 World Cup-winning coach Woodward says the writing was on the wall for Wales in west London as early as five minutes in when former Pontypool schoolboy Billy Vunipola crossed for the opening try.
"When Billy Vunipola scored early, you knew they were going to win," said Woodward in his Daily Mail column.
"Wales were a shadow of the side we know from the start and England had something to prove.
"It was a good hit-out for both teams and their coaches. The result doesn’t really matter but the coaches will have learnt a lot from the match.
"Wales just weren’t there which should surprise nobody - they lacked intensity, and it was totally different from the Six Nations game they won against England in Cardiff.
"Those sorts of matches are really difficult to get up for, and you could tell from the kick-off that Wales weren’t at the races.
"Actually, I think it is a blessing they will now not be able to call themselves the number one ranked team in the world today. Let’s face it - the team in red at Twickenham were not the best team in the world.
"That will help them, as it allows them to fly under the radar again. They will be totally different in Japan when it really matters.
"These games are run-outs, no more than that, but out of the two coaches Eddie will be far happier than Warren Gatland. Warren will be extremely disappointed.
"Wales looked a little tired, and were on a hiding to nothing by putting their first XV out. However, it was just a warm-up game."
