11 Nov 2014

Sport: Samoa drops out of rugby top 10

11:46 am on 11 November 2014

Samoa have dropped two places and out of the top 10 in the International Rugby rankings after their 24-13 loss to Italy.

Manu Samoa are now 11th and have been replaced at number 9 by Japan who narrowly missed out on upsetting the New Zealand Maori over the weekend, succumbing to a late try in a 20-18 loss.

Australia have returned to third in the latest Rankings after recording a 10th successive victory over their Rugby World Cup 2015 opponents Wales, 33-28.

The victory, in tandem with England's 24-21 loss to New Zealand at Twickenham, has once again created an all-southern hemisphere top three with the All Blacks set to celebrate five years atop the ranking this weekend and South Africa second despite their defeat to Ireland.

Tonga improved their rating with victory over Georgia but remain unchanged at 13th them.

Fiji are just above them in 12th.

Manu Samoa Rugby

Manu Samoa Rugby Photo: PHOTOSPORT