In terms of the proportion of pupils reaching the highest ability levels in primary reading, Northern Ireland was even more successful, ranked third place in the world.
In the process, Williams extended his Wales try record to 48 and joined England's Rory Underwood on 50 Test tries (having also scored two for the Lions) in third place in the world rankings.
Taking his native Argentina, a team who have no regular tournament to play in, to third place in the last World Cup is one of the most impressive achievements in modern-day Test rugby.
He then famously led the Irish under-16 team to the European championship title in 1998, the under-18s to the Europeans in the same year and a third-place finish in the 1997 world under-20 championship.
Publication of the study comes just a day after England dropped from third place to 19th in the world in an assessment of reading.
Button's Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished behind the dominant Red Bulls in third place, to close to within 23 points of Button in the world drivers' standings, with Vettel breathing down the Brazilian's neck.
The tie moved the U.S. (1-1-1) into third place in World Cup qualifying for the North and Central American and Caribbean region after three of 10 matches, one point behind Panama.
However, his second place means the Spaniard now requires one third-place finish in any of the final three races to become the youngest world champion.
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Mantle had led the Yankees to a first place finish and a return to the World Series while the Jensen-led Red Sox finished in third place 13 games behind the Yankees.
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Ibanez finally quit the international game after losing the third-place play-off against Argentina at the World Cup in his homeland in 2007.
As it was, Spain's victory over Chile pushed the Swiss into third place in Group H, while Honduras joined Algeria in exiting the 2010 World Cup without scoring a goal.
France captain Raphael Ibanez has been suspended for one week for stamping on Argentina's Rimas Alvarez Kairelis in the World Cup third place play-off on Friday.
Wales begin their 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign against South Africa in Wellington on 11 September - as the Welsh bid to better their best World Cup performance of third place in 1987, also in New Zealand.
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Third place at the Under-20 World Cup Finals in Colombia was another confirmation of sustained improvement.
Despite being a place (fourth) below the Springboks (third) in the world rankings, England will start as favourites on Saturday following the impressive 35-18 demolition of Australia earlier this month.
Sebastian Vettel will start third on the grid after young Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, 26, snatched second place from the reigning world champion in the final seconds of the day's racing.
The top seven seeds receive a bye into the second round and the world No. 5 Juan Martin Del Potro made hard work of his place in the third round after a battle with Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
The EU's fishing industry is the third largest in the world, and quotas have been in place to ensure sustainability.
However, while Apple may always remain a third place player in China, iPhone sales will undoubtedly increase as China dominates the world smartphone market.
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US-based Anheuser-Busch is the world's third biggest brewer, behind SABMiller in second place and first place InBev, a Belgian-Brazilian business.
With both teams out of contention for qualification for next year's World Cup in South Africa, third place in Group Four was still the target with the Finns going into the game occupying that spot.
World bronze medallist Jenny Meadows produced Britain's best performance with third place in the women's 800m.
Wawrinka, who beat Dimitrov in the third round, earned his place in the final with a 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory against world No. 6 Tomas Berdych in just under two hours.
Argentina - who are still lacking regular international opposition, with no place for them in either the Tri-Nations or the Six Nations - finished third at last year's World Cup, their best ever showing in the tournament.
England secured a shortened version Fast Net win over Australia at the World Netball Series in Manchester in October before their rivals gained revenge in a third-place play off.
Rosberg got the better of teammate Michael Schumacher, finishing third to the former world champion's fifth position, with world champion Jenson Button separating the pair in fourth place.
Organisers had hoped that McKee would take on the Welshman in what would have been their first meeting since they deadheated for third place at this year's World Indoor Championships.
And Britain came first in a ranking of financial development in over 50 economies published by the World Economic Forum, which showed America slipping from top to third place, behind Australia.
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