Ireland will not only take a step towards back to back RBS Six Nations Grand Slams with victory over France at the Stade de France on Saturday, but also break the southern hemisphere domination in the IRB World Rankings' top three.
A first win on French soil since March 2000 - regardless of the margin of victory - will see Ireland take over third spot from Australia to equal their best ever position since the rankings were introduced in October 2003.
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Ireland, who last briefly occupied third position in November 2006, currently trail Australia by just under a rating point and even with an emphatic victory they will still be five and two points adrift of New Zealand and South Africa respectively.
On the other hand, a sixth successive defeat at the Stade de France and Ireland will lose their mantle as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings with their conquerors assuming fourth position, regardless of the winning margin.
France themselves can go no higher than fourth this weekend, but could close to 1.16 rating points of Australia with a victory by more than 15 points, a result which would also give them just over a point cushion to Ireland.
A victory for France would also preserve their claim as the last side to win back to back Grand Slams, in 1997 and 1998. This has only happened on four other occasions since France joined the Championship a century ago, by England (three times) and Wales.
It is not all positive news for France as the IRB World Rankings go, though, as they could potentially end the weekend in sixth if they lose to Ireland and England beat Italy at the Stadio Flaminio, albeit depending on the winning margins.
If France suffer a narrow loss at the Stade de France then England would need to win by more than 15 points in Rome to take over fifth spot by mere thousandths. A smaller win for England and Les Bleus would have to lose by more than 15 points.
Scotland return?
An emphatic victory for England in Rome would result in a one place fall to 12th for Italy, the loss of just over six tenths enough to drop Nick Mallett's side below Samoa and leave them little more than a point above Japan.
A first ever victory over England will not improve Italy's position of 11th, but it would see their visitors slide one or even two places, depending on the margin of victory and Wales' result against Scotland.
In this instance Argentina would definitely climb above England into sixth, although a Wales win by more than 15 points over Scotland at the Millennium Stadium would also take them above Martin Johnson's losing team.
Without an emphatic Italian victory Wales cannot improve their position of eighth. However, a first loss to Scotland in Cardiff since April 2002 could see them fall one place to ninth, their lowest position for two years in the IRB World Rankings.
For this to happen it would require Scotland to win by more than 15 points, a smaller win will only see them regain the ninth position they relinquished to Fiji following their 18-9 loss to France last weekend.
The RBS Six Nations is not the only competition which could impact the IRB World Rankings this weekend, with three other matches in Europe doubling as Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifiers.
Look out for a preview of the Portugal v Georgia, Romania v Germany and Spain v Russia matches in the European Nations Cup and what impact they can have on the IRB World Rankings on Friday.
The IRB World Rankings update every Monday at 12:00 UK time.
