Scotland move up to sixth in world rankings
Scotland have jumped up one position to sixth in the International Rugby Board world rankings.
The Scots 21-17 win over South Africa and Ireland’s 38-18 defeat to New Zealand means that the Scottish team overtake Ireland who are pushed down to seventh place.
Dan Parks was the hero against South Africa and he scored all their points in the victory. The result means that Scotland reached their highest position in the IRB rankings.
Scotland have had a fantastic season so far. They were unlucky to lose against Wales in the Six Nations and their most disappointing result came against the Italians in a 16-12 defeat the same tournament.
Since then, Scotland recorded an impressive draw with England before they visited Dublin to deny Ireland a Triple Crown.
They continued their good form on the tour of Argentina and won the series 2-0.
However, a poor display against the All Blacks ended their run of four unbeaten games. Scotland were thrashed 49-3 by an impressive New Zealand team.
The Scots bounced back with a well earned victory against South Africa at the weekend. Speaking at a press conference, the Scottish coach Andy Robinson said, "What pleases me is the attitude and determination of our squad to keep improving."
Robinson admitted that he was satisfied to move up the rankings, but he was keen to stress the importance of backing up their win against South Africa with a good performance in their next Test against Samoa on Saturday 27 November. "You climb the rankings
by winning games and it is very important that we build on Saturday's result. We need to deliver again when we face very tough opponents in Aberdeen," said the Scottish coach.
Samoa have already shown that they can compete with the home nations and they were unlucky to lose 20-10 in their opening match against Ireland. They also put up a strong performance in their 26-13 defeat to England.
Scotland are aware that they will have to perform well to beat Samoa.
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