A weekend of upsets in the European Nations Cup has seen Norway climb seven places in the latest IRB World Rankings following their defeat of Denmark, while Austria are also on the rise after stunning Slovenia in Division 3B.
History had not been on Norway's side, having only once managed to keep the losing margin to below 20 points in the last decade before the sides met at the Fana Stadium in Bergen on Saturday.
However, it was a case of 11th time lucky as Norway, in the first rugby match to be shown on national television, ran out 15-8 winners with wing Francis Hunt kicking all of their points with five penalties.
Norway had gone into the all-Scandinavian battle ranked 86th, some 21 places and 4.85 rating points below Denmark. That gap has now been slashed to only nine places and 2.74 points with the Norwegians rising to 79th and Denmark falling five to 70th.
St Lucia, Israel, Guam, Swaziland, Bulgaria, India and Jamaica all slide one place as a result of Norway's gain, while Denmark's loss in conjunction with Slovenia's surprise loss to Austria means Guyana, Malaysia, Niue, Thailand and Peru enjoy two-place climbs.
Slovenia had claimed the Division 3B title with an unbeaten record in 2008/09, but their hopes of winning promotion have been dealt a blow with two defeats in the space of eight days, 17-11 in Hungary and now 15-13 by Austria.
The two defeats have seen Slovenia slide 11 places in total, six of them on the back of the home defeat in Ljubljana on Saturday. Austria were still seeking a first win after four Division 3B defeats and having achieved it climb three places to 90th at the expense of Nigeria, Monaco and Vanuatu.
