Rugby-Scots eye top-eight ranking in Argentina showdown

By Julien Pretot PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Scotland, with half an eye on the next World Cup, look to improve their ranking when they entertain Argentina on Saturday in the latest batch of autumn internationals. Elsewhere, Ireland will be wary of a backlash when they meet New Zealand in Dublin, two weeks after they upset the All Blacks 40-29 in Chicago. Scotland are ninth in the rankings that are used to determine the seedings for the 2019 World Cup pool stage, one spot behind Argentina who slipped from sixth after a 24-20 defeat by Wales last weekend. Vern Cotter's men can overtake the Pumas with victory at Murrayfield and virtually assure their place among the second pot of seeds -- fifth to eighth -- at the draw in May. "The rankings issue is clearly very important. When you have World Cups coming up they are always in the back of your mind," said Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw. "We certainly don't want to drop out of the pot of second seeds. I'd rather not be doing that if we can help it. World Cups are hard enough." Coach Cotter, however, warned his team to focus on their performance on the field. "We're aware there are rankings. We looked at the performance against Australia and the parts that we would like to improve on," he said in reference to last Saturday's 23-22 defeat. "If we do that it's just going to take care of itself." FOUR YEARS AGO Ireland will think back to four years ago ahead of their fixture with New Zealand. After suffering a narrow 22-19 defeat in June 2012, the Irish were crushed 60-0 by the All Blacks. "It wasn't Ireland's fault that we played bad," said prop Owen Franks of their Chicago reverse two weeks ago. England take on Fiji at Twickenham on Saturday with Fijian-born wing Semesa Rokoduguni likely to start for the home side who are aiming to extend their winning run under coach Eddie Jones to 11 games. "I'm sure it adds a little spice among them as individuals. There could be a seismic explosion with (Fiji wing Nemani) Nadolo and Rokoduguni running into each other," said England assistant coach Neal Hatley. Wales host Japan while France, who will rely on their scrum and firepower of the three-quarter line, play Australia with the two European sides also keeping a close eye on the world rankings. The Welsh are sixth with France seventh. Italy also take on South Africa who need to bounce back from their 37-21 defeat by England last weekend. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Tony Jimenez)