Martin Johnson's England have slipped to eight in the world © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Frank Hadden | Thom Evans | Martin Johnson

Tournaments/Tours: Six Nations

Teams: England | France | Ireland | Italy | Scotland | Wales

England have slipped to their lowest-ever world ranking position following their Six Nations loss to Ireland. In 2003 England were World Cup-winners, but they have now dropped to eighth in the world after only two wins, against Italy and the Pacific Islands, since Martin Johnson took charge in mid 2008.

Johnson saw his side lose heavily to Australia, South Africa and New Zealand during November before Six Nations defeats to Wales and Ireland left them struggling to finish in the top half of the table.

Wales have also slipped in the rankings, their loss to France on Friday dropping them into fifth place a matter of weeks after they ascended to their highest-ever position of fourth. France have leap-frogged England into seventh spot, while Ireland will be able to overtake Wales in fifth should they record their first Grand Slam in 61 years by beating Scotland and Wales in the coming weeks.

Scotland remain in ninth following their first win of this year's Six Nations against Italy on Saturday, but their difficult start to the tournament has weighed heavily on the squad, in particular on coach Frank Hadden.

Wing Thom Evans, one of the few positive stories of this year's Six Nations for the Scots, has maintained however that the squad is 100% behind their coach as they prepare to face Ireland and England in their next two fixtures.

"Frank has got the support of all the players," said the Glasgow winger. "I think he's a great coach and if ever there's a problem which he feels needs to be addressed, he'll always take the player aside and explain the reasoning for it.

"That's great to do when you're the head coach and I'm firmly behind him. We know we've got a lot of talent in the squad but we're still frustrating at times. Obviously, when we had the ball in attack, we could have created a lot more chances for ourselves but it's tough against a defence like Italy."