Two matches counted towards the World Rugby Men’s Rankings powered by Capgemini this week, one in Asia and one in Europe.
Latvia were the biggest climbers while Hungary, the team they defeated in Budapest thanks to a last-gasp penalty from Roberts Davidson, fell the furthest.
Davidson, Latvia’s scrum cap-wearing full-back, kept his nerve after Hungary were penalised for being offside and slotted the ball through the posts from just outside the opposition 22 for a dramatic 22-21 victory.
Referee Nikola Zachariev blew for full-time as soon as the flags were raised and Latvia’s players celebrated as if they had just won a Rugby World Cup.
Latvia move up the rankings by four places to 60th as a result of their second win in Conference 1 North, while the defeat completed a whitewash for Hungary who fall four places down to 70th.
Asian round-up
Kazakhstan were involved in both of this week’s Asia Rugby Championship Division 2 fixtures, defeating India 29-22 but losing 35-10 in their most recent encounter to Qatar which didn’t count towards the rankings because the latter nation are not full members of World Rugby.
As a net result, their rating has improved by a quarter of a point to 41.16, but not enough for them to improve on 63rd place.
Having lost to Kazakhstan, India drop one place to 86th with Ghana the side to benefit.
Meanwhile, Lebanon defeated Jordan 29-5 in the first-ever meeting between the sides.
Lebanon's tries came from Mel Melhem, Khaled El Rafi, Hassan Al Jammal and Georgio Daou. Elias Antoun kicked the only conversion with the remainder of their points coming from an Alexandre Sioufi penalty.
Rakan Abzakh's try accounted for Jordan points in a match which did not count towards the rankings.
