Australia have overtaken USA in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini after booking their place in the Rugby World Cup 2021 quarter-finals with a 13-7 win over Wales in Whangārei on Saturday.
The Wallaroos picked up 1.56 points for the victory and are now in sixth place with an overall rating of 78 points – 1.32 points more than the Women’s Eagles, who drop to seventh.
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Wales, meanwhile, have slipped one place to ninth as a result of the loss with Ireland replacing them in eighth.
None of the other results from the final pool matches of Rugby World Cup 2021 influenced the rankings with the higher-ranked teams all winning.
Heading into the quarter-finals, England remain 7.20 points clear of New Zealand at the top with Canada third. France and Italy, who play each other in the quarter-finals, are fourth and fifth respectively.
Scotland, Japan, South Africa and Fiji did not lose any points after defeats in their third and final pool matches confirmed their exits.
Portugal make sensational debut
This weekend’s matches in both the Rugby Europe Women’s Trophy and Rugby Africa Women’s Cup also counted towards the rankings.
Portugal beat hosts Belgium 71-5 on their Rugby Europe Women’s Trophy debut to shoot up the rankings to 31st – a gain of eight places.
Meanwhile, Finland also enjoyed an eight-place gain – moving up from 50th to 42nd – after spoiling Germany’s return to the test arena after a three-year absence with a 43-5 win in Helsinki.
Madagascar have marched up the rankings on the back of consecutive wins in Tunis that saw them finish top of Pool C of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup 2022.
The Lady Makis followed a 34-25 win over Senegal on Tuesday with a 27-5 victory against hosts Tunisia on Saturday and as a result climb five places to a new high of 25th.
Tunisia and Senegal have fallen to 34th and 39th place, respectively.
