Grand Slam winners England have reinforced their status as the No.1 side in world rugby with their recent results from their 2003 clean sweep seeing them extend their lead at the top of the Zurich World Rankings.

England now have some breathing space between themselves and the second-placed New Zealand, but with a June 14 date in Wellington already looming large Clive Woodward's men will have to battle hard to stay there through all the RWC 2003 warm-up action ahead of the big kick-off on October 10.

Meanwhile, Ireland, despite their fall at the last, take the honour of being the most-improved side in the Zurich World Rankings over the course of the 2003 Six Nations, picking up a total of 36 rankings points to move to yet another all-time high in the rankings.

Italy too were big improvers although they were unable to overhaul Canada for 11th place whilst in contrast Wales were the side to suffer most, dropping a record 70 points over the competition to edge them towards the 700-point mark and their lowest-ever rankings points total of 691 way back in 1998 on the back of their summer tour of South Africa.

Fellow Celts Scotland fared a little better to remain in seventh place ahead of Argentina, but still let slip over 50 rankings points in their campaign.

Lower down the table, European Nations' Cup Grand Slam winners, Portugal, continue their progress on the world ladder but just fell short of breaking into the world's top 20.

Zurich World Rankings (as of April 1, 2003)

(-) 1 England 1239 (+18)
2 New Zealand 1206
3 Australia 1146
(-) 4 France 1139 (+14)
5 South Africa 1045
(-) 6 Ireland 893 (+18)
(-) 7 Scotland 783 (-10)
8 Argentina 755
(-) 9 Wales 702 (-32)
10 Samoa 680
11 Canada 603
(-) 12 Italy 593 (-6)
13 Fiji 567
(-) 14 Tonga 523 (+19)
15 Japan 471
(-) 16 Romania 383 (+21)
(-) 17 Georgia 359 (+4)
18 United States 345
19 Uruguay 295
20 Namibia 294
(-) 21 Portugal 292 (+11)
(-) 22 Russia 269 (-7)
(+2) 23 Chile 260
(-1) 24 Tunisia 254 (-8)
(+1) 25 Morocco 251