Georgia have matched their previous best position of 11th in the World Rugby Men's Rankings at Wales' expense.
The teams swapped places on Saturday after the Lelos beat the Netherlands 40-7 in the second round of the Rugby Europe Men's Championship 2025 and Wales lost 22-15 to Italy a few hours later at the same stage of the Guinness Men's Six Nations 2025.
It is the fourth time Georgia have achieved 11th, with the most recent occasion being in September 2023, while Wales are now 0.10 of a point behind in 12th, a new record low for the team who were number one in the world less than four years ago.
Georgia are now 35 games unbeaten in the Rugby Europe Men's Championship, a run stretching to nearly eight years, with the result against the Netherlands guaranteeing them a top-two finish in Pool A with one round of the pool stage remaining.
With their place in the semi-finals confirmed, Georgia have qualified for Men's Rugby World Cup 2027, along with Spain, their opponents this weekend, and Portugal and Romania who can't be caught at the top of Pool B.
While Georgia's qualification came with the bonus of moving up the rankings at Wales' expense, the rest of the European RWC 2027 qualifiers stayed put despite also maintaining their 100 per cent records with a second win in the competition. Belgium did slip a place to 29th after losing to Romania, swapping places with Switzerland.
Portugal, though, have an opportunity to move above USA and into 15th place this weekend if they beat Romania in Botosani in their final pool game.
Spain will also be upwardly mobile if they become the first team since Romania in 2017 to beat Georgia, as a first win in 14 matches against the Lelos would lift them above Uruguay.
Many other permutations are possible this weekend, depending on the outcomes of the four matches taking place across Saturday and Sunday, including a record high of 25th for Switzerland.
Switzerland, however, would need an historic win over the Netherlands to achieve that. The Dutch are unbeaten in six previous tests against Switzerland (W5, D1), with a 20-20 draw in 2013 the only time they have failed to win.
The other game involves Germany and Belgium, who like the Netherlands and Switzerland, are banking on finishing fifth to keep their Men's Rugby World Cup qualification hopes alive.
The fifth-placed team at the end of the Rugby Europe Men's Championship 2025 will secure a place at the Final Qualification Tournament later this year, where the 24th and final ticket to Australia 2027 will be handed out.
Elsewhere, Morocco have confirmed their place in the Rugby Africa Men's Cup 2025, which will determine the region's direct qualifier for Men's RWC 2027, after beating Tunisia 26-12 in the Repechage final in Casablanca on Sunday. The win lifted Morocco one place to 38th in the rankings with Tunisia falling two to 47th.
The only other positional change in the rankings after last weekend's action saw England climb one place to sixth following their 26-25 victory over France in the Men's Six Nations, swapping places with Scotland after they lost 32-18 at home to Ireland.
Photo: Rugby Europe
