USA’s 42-12 victory over Spain in the final of La Vila International Rugby Cup in Villajoyosa on Saturday has lifted them up to 17th position in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings powered by Capgemini.
The US Men’s Eagles gained 1.70 points to boost their rating to 67.94 points, taking them above Uruguay in the process.
Spain lost an equal amount of points in exchange and their new rating of 62.86 points drops them below Romania and into 20th place.
In the La Vila International Rugby Cup third-place play-off, Canada ended their recent losing run with a 40-15 win over Brazil.
As a result, Kingsley Jones’ side have moved up two places to 21st but they are still nearly two points adrift of the top 20.
Brazil, meanwhile, lost two places in defeat and fall to 28th, with Switzerland and the Netherlands, neither of whom were in action, the sides to benefit.
The only other match taking place in Europe this weekend came in the Rugby Europe Trophy 2023-24, and ended in a 22-20 win for Sweden away to Croatia.
Sweden have won two of their first three games and are now tied with Switzerland at the top of the standings on eight points but with a worse points difference.
The win took Sweden past the 50-point rating mark but they remain in 36th place, while Croatia have fallen four places to 41st.
Further afield, Hong Kong China wrapped up a 2-0 series win over Germany in convincing fashion with a 46-10 victory over Germany on Saturday. It followed on from their 29-16 victory earlier in the week.
Left wing Seb O’Brien raced in for a hat-trick of tries as Hong Kong China racked up a record score in the fifth meeting between the teams.
The outcome did not affect the rankings with Hong Kong China remaining eight places above Germany in 24th.
