England go second in World Rankings
Despite missing out on Six Nations the England have moved into second place in World Rugby’s women’s rankings.
Published by John Birch, March 21st, 2016
2 minute read
This year’s Women’s Six Nations have made little impact on the World Rankings, other than moving England into second place over France… by 0.07 of a point.
It is a result that may seem odd, as France won this year’s tournament. However World Rugby’s rankings look at the relative positions of each team before a game, and the lower a team is the more points a higher ranked team will lose (and the lower ranked team will gain) if there is a “surprise” result – so France’s loss to Wales three weeks ago cost them far more (nearly a full ranking point) than England’s loss to France last weekend.
Rank
Team
Points
Change
1
New Zealand
91.94
2 (+1)
England
86.34
-0.22
3 (-1)
France
86.27
-0.77
4
Ireland
82.89
-0.59
5
Canada
81.96
6
USA
81.09
7
Australia
79.88
8
Italy
77.72
+0.83
9
Spain
76.60
10
Wales
74.64
+0.76
11
Samoa
68.72
12
South Africa
68.51
13
Scotland
65.64
+0.00
World rankings in full
Although this was the only positional change, the three leading European teams all lost ground on top-placed New Zealand, who are now a relatively massive five-and-a-half points clear of England.
The big gains were made by Italy and Wales, who are both closing in on Australia and Spain respectively.
Scotland’s position is unchanged because the other five teams are ranked so far ahead that they do not suffer any penalty for a defeat. However should Scotland win next year (or even beat Spain in a World Cup qualifier, should Spain win the European Trophy later this year) then they could move up the ranking very quickly.