Wales will slip to their joint lowest ever world ranking of 10th if they are beaten by England, the new World Rugby standing have confirmed.
A shock Italy win at home to Ireland in round three could even see Wales plumb new depths by slipping to 11th for the first time.
The results from the second round of Six Nations matches have actually seen no movement in terms of positions, but another dent to Wales' rankings points means they are now in a perilous place.
Any sort of defeat to England on February 25 will see Japan leapfrog Warren Gatland's side, while the Italians can jump three places from 12th to ninth if they pull off an unlikely win against the men's world number one side. If Wales manage to beat England, they will remain ninth.
Wales have been as low as 10th in the world twice before, the first time coming after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, when they were sent crashing out of the tournament by Fiji. It was a result which saw Gareth Jenkins sacked as Wales coach and heralded the start of the first era under Gatland.
Five years later, Wales lost all four of their autumn internationals in 2012 before opening their 2013 Six Nations campaign with a defeat to Ireland when Gatland was on Lions duty. Wales, of course, did recover to actually win the Six Nations title under Rob Howley that year, helped by the famous 30-3 win over England.
Wales were ranked the best team in the world less than four years ago under Gatland after winning the 2019 Grand Slam and beating England in a summer World Cup warm-up match.
Ireland have tightened their grip on the number one spot following Saturday's thrilling 32-19 win over second-placed France. England, who Wales face in Cardiff a week on Saturday, are ranked sixth.
New World Rugby rankings table
| 1 | Ireland | 91.33 | ||
| 2 | France | 89.38 | ||
| 3 | New Zealand | 88.98 | ||
| 4 | South Africa | 88.97 | ||
| 5 | Scotland | 83.36 | ||
| 6 | England | 82.27 | ||
| 7 | Australia | 81.80 | ||
| 8 | Argentina | 80.72 | ||
| 9 | Wales | 77.73 | ||
| 10 | Japan | 77.39 | ||
| 11 | Samoa | 76.03 | ||
| 12 | Italy | 75.83 | ||
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