Peter Jackson: This ratings war is such a phoney battlefield

Wales beat England last time out at Twickenham during the course of their Grand Slam. A few months earlier, they had gone to within one penalty kick of reaching the World Cup final while the neighbours capitulated to France in the quarters.
How odd, then, to find that Wales are down at No. 6 on the official IRB world rankings.  What makes it appear odder still is that England, for all their travails in New Zealand, are up to No. 4 on the current list. If their respective positions are still the same in four weeks’ time, there is every chance of the old rivals being drawn in the same pool for the 2015 World Cup.
The draw is to be made on December 3, 48 hours after England make another Twickenham stand against New Zealand and Wales attempt to end a demoralising run of six straight defeats to Australia.    The first four ranked countries will be seeded for the draw which guarantees that No. 4 will avoid having to tangle with one of New Zealand, South Africa or Australia in the first stage of the finals.
At this point, you may well ask yourself: ‘So what?’  Any country demanding to be taken seriously as a contender knows they will have to tackle one of the aforementioned sooner or later.  And the last World Cup did nothing for the credibility of the IRB rankings.
Wales went into it as the sixth best team on the planet and missed the final only by the matter of inches which made the difference between Leigh Halfpenny’s late long-range penalty beating France in the semis or, as it turned out, floating under the bar.  France, then at No. 4, swam in the same pool as New Zealand and very nearly ended up with the last laugh.
They survived, somehow, despite losing to the All Blacks and then to a team outside the top ten, Tonga.  Undaunted the French wound up giving New Zealand a severe dose of the heebie-jeebies in the final, ensuring in typical Gallic fashion that the better team lost.
Ireland, ranked among the no-hopers at No. 8, socked it to the second-seeded Wallabies in Auckland only to lose by a distance to Wales in the quarters.  What matters for Wales over the next four weeks is that they start winning again and to hang with the rankings.
Three wins out of four ought not to be asking too much, starting against Argentina next Saturday, Samoa on Friday week and the patched-up Wallabies on December 1.  Beating the All Blacks seven days earlier on November 24 is most definitely asking too much if only because no Welsh team has done so since Llanelli in 1972 and there is no reason to suppose this year will be any different to the previous 40.
Acting coach Rob Howley has issues to resolve before naming the team this week, like how to cope without Adam Jones, a case of trying to replace the irreplaceable. Aaron Jarvis, Jones’ Ospreys understudy, deserves to get the nod as a specialist tight-head.  The other long debate will be over the back row given that one blindside flanker, Dan Lydiate, will be missing and another, Ryan Jones, is in danger of joining him. One compromise would be to pick two opensides, Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric.
In retaining Warburton as captain, Wales have nailed their colours firmly to the mast, justifiably so given the new skipper’s impact at the World Cup before injury permitted him to go the distance just once during the Grand Slam. Aaron Shingler, on the outside looking in since an impressive debut in place of Warburton against Scotland last February, is also back in contention.