Hong Kong are the biggest movers in the latest IRB World Rankings with a six-place climb to 33rd on the back of their impressive 32-8 victory over Korea in their HSBC Asian 5 Nations opener on Saturday.
The four-try victory also boosted Hong Kong's hopes of qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2011, either directly as the Asian 5 Nations winner if they can upset Japan or to go into the cross-continental play-off as the runner-up.
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Korea's loss means they fall one place to 25th with Spain the beneficiaries. The other Asian 5 Nations match also resulted in a fall, despite Kazakhstan's 43-28 victory over Arabian Gulf not altering the rating points of either side.
Kazakhstan, though, slide one place to 27th as a result of Belgium overcoming Poland 29-8 in their European Nations Cup Division 2A encounter in Brussels to climb above Brazil and the Asian side into 26th.
Three other European sides also enjoyed two place gains after recording victories on Saturday, Moldova rising to 38th after beating Division 2A champions Ukraine, Croatia to 39th with defeat of the Netherlands and Malta to 49th with victory over Latvia.
Moldova's 28-19 victory over Ukraine in Chisinau takes them above Lithuania and Poland - who fall three after losing in Belgium - and brings them to within six hundredths of the Netherlands above them.
Two defeats in a fortnight are hardly the preparations Ukraine would have wanted as they prepare to face Lithuania on 8 May in a RWC 2011 qualifier, with the winner to meet Romania for a place in the cross-continental play-off later this year.
Contrasting fortunes
Ukraine have slipped another place to 30th on the back of this most recent loss, with the Netherlands also falling two to 35th after defeat in Croatia.
However, there was one positive to come out of the 16-14 loss in that it guaranteed the Netherlands the Division 2B title. Croatia can still draw level with the Dutch on 22 points, but their winning margin of two points is less than the six enjoyed by the Netherland at home.
The weekend's other Division 2B match also proved decisive with Latvia's loss in Malta not only resulting in a three-place fall to 59th but also condemning them to relegation to Division 3A next year.
The loss did lift them off the bottom of the standings, but even if Sweden lose to Croatia on 1 May, they have a far superior differential in the head-to-head and so escape relegation.
Latvia's place will be taken by Division 3A champions Lithuania, who ran out 77-5 winners over Serbia to set a new world record of 18 consecutive test victories, taking them past the previous benchmark of New Zealand and South Africa.
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Lithuania's win does not improve their position of 37th in the IRB World Rankings, although they are now only a few hundredths behind the two sides - Netherlands and Moldova - above them. Serbia, though, are the biggest fallers of the week with a four-place drop to 64th.
Denmark ran out 24-13 winners over Austria in Division 3B, but the victory only improves their rating by five hundredths, bringing them to within touching distance of Andorra above them in 67th. Austria remain 92nd, albeit closer to Vanuatu.
The only match over the weekend which did not impact the IRB World Rankings was Bulgaria's 18-15 victory over Greece, as the latter are not yet a Full Member Union of the International Rugby Board and therefore not ranked.
