England's Anthony Watson smiles after scoring a try against Ireland. Photo / AP
With less than two weeks until the start of the Rugby World Cup, Chris Rattue ranks where the nations stand heading into the big event.
Strengthened their position at the top by mooching around hotels, holding press conferences, training and could even round the prep off by reading about other teams' problems if they so wished.
Pipped the redoubtable Irish while their pool of death foes Australia and Wales tumbled performance and injury wise. The closer the tournament gets the more the Twickenham factor rises although their send-off sounds like one of those ominous over-the-top All Black jobs from the past.
Contenders outside of favourites New Zealand are so unimpressive that it's time to fall back on the World Cup specialists. Their recent win over Scotland is simply a minor point. Some internal strife might help and that is always easily arranged with the French.
Quota selections can complicate Heyneke Meyer's job after a court bid highlighted the race issue. But the Springboks are traditional cup heavyweights, and the closer the tournament the more this seems to count. Wagons, circles...and let the kicking commence.
A reasonable and consistent World Cup history boosted by Rugby Championship action. Should come second in their pool and will get a couple of excellent workouts along the way. More than capable of beating France, their bunnies for over a decade, or Ireland in a quarter final.
Going the way of the Chinese stock market according to the world rankings. Lead up results - not the best of gauges admittedly - don't augur well for the vital French showdown. But it's out with the Blarney stone these days, because the fastidious Joe Schmidt leaves no stone unturned.
The world rankings obviously didn't watch the first half of their game against the United States. Should emerge from their pool, but the water will be too deep thereafter and their goalkicking is both short and wayward.
The Pacific champs buried Canada. Okay, no big deal. But England should be afraid, very afraid, ahead of the World Cup opener. Nemani Nadolo and friends won't be awed by reputations, although Twickenham is another matter.
The world rankings obviously don't read injury lists. A backline in disrepair. A shaky front row. The toughest pool. There's a bad feel to the Welsh campaign although Sam Warburton is a fine leader.
No new form indicators. It's all about their final pool game against Scotland, and Samoa have just the sort of game to bamboozle the Scots. Just ask Wales.
Battled in Bucharest and dealing with the All Blacks and Pumas' power and structure are not the sort of pool match-ups which look good for their chances.
Horrible 2015 form but the addition of a class openside flanker in John "Hardly Scottish" Hardie cannot be underestimated. They pushed France hard in Paris, but that counts for diddly-squat.
Lost to Wales. Ouch. There is something very uninspiring about Italian rugby, but all that Six Nations experience must count for a bit when the going gets tough.
Break into our first XV by not only beating Georgia, but scoring the winning try from a rolling maul against their famously muscular opponents. Tbilisi will be in tears over that. And it gets worse for Georgia. As punishment, Milton Haig's heavies are dumped off our Top 15 list.
The men from Jarryd Hayne country got absolutely smashed after wobbly Australia brought on a few key second half replacements. Yes, rugby is really taking off in the US of A.
Benched: Georgia (16), Romania (17), Canada (18), Uruguay (19), Namibia (20).
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