Five numbers you need to know from the RugbyPass Top 50

Last week RugbyPass named England Red Roses captain Meg Jones as its top player of 2026.

The 30-year-old centre headed the RugbyPass Top 50 Women’s Rugby Players, but her selection is not the only thing worth talking about.

Here are five talking points from the RugbyPass Top 50…

One

That is how many players retained the exact same spot on the RugbyPass Top 50 between 2025 and 2026. Although we were robbed of seeing Aoife Wafer [5th] for the majority of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 and the latter half of WXV Global Series 2026, you cannot deny her talent.

At the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, the 23-year-old was in a league of her own. To put that into even greater context, the Player of the Championship award was only introduced in 2020, five players had previously won it and no one had done it twice. Wafer has.

It is a crying shame that injury will mean that the back-row will now miss the start of the JAECOO Premiership Women’s Rugby season. A revelation with Harlequins last season, we will have to wait several weeks before seeing her on the pitch again.

Two

The number of Canadian scrum-halves on the list. Whilst other nations usually have a standout player in an important position like scrum-half, Canada have two. For many years Justine Pelletier has been the tour de force for Canada at half-back, but in the last year, Olivia Apps has taken a regular starting jersey.

Apps has seen her stock triple in 12 months. She had decided to mix her time on the sevens pitch with a starting spot with PWR club Saracens. A year later she is the reigning PWR Player of the Season, a PWR champion and Kévin Rouet’s preferred starting nine.

The pair formed a formidable double-act as Canada ended England’s 41-match winning streak in Toronto and backed up that performance a week later in Ottawa. Apps was launched straight to 25th on the RugbyPass Top 50. Pelletier even moved up four places to 36th.

Three

The amount of English World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year winners included in the RugbyPass Top 50. All of Marlie Packer [2023], Ellie Kildunne [2024] and Zoe Stratford [2021] all were named for their efforts over the past year or so.

Of course, their inclusions all had their various nuance. Stratford [30], for example, has not played a game of rugby since February and announced her pregnancy. Her last game of Test rugby was the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 final. Such immense leadership and talent could not go unrecognised. Plus, you probably back her to gain British & Irish Lions Women selection in 2027.

You can then look to Packer [38th], who was in some ridiculous form at times this year. The 37-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down and was this year’s Women’s Six Nations top try-scorer with seven scores. Finally, a word for Ellie Kildunne [6th]. It was a quiet WXV Global Series by her standards, but there was never a lack of effort from the 27-year-old.

Four

Heading into the final weekend of WXV Global Series, the USA Women’s Eagles had claimed four wins from a possible four. A fifth win was out of reach, however, as England’s Red Roses claimed a 55-12 win at New Jersey’s Sports Illustrated Stadium. All of those wins had come against Women’s Six Nations opponents, having stunned Ireland in Dublin, ground out victory against Wales and then secured back-to-back victories over Italy on home soil. Before September, Jack Hanratty’s side had only picked up two wins.

These positive results saw players stand up to be counted. No more so than Freda Tafuna [44th]. The back-row had always shown promise, but in early autumn matches shone for the Eagles. Her efforts yielded seven tries, 113 carries and 205 post-contact metres. Then there is Hope Rogers, the most-capped Eagle and the only USA player to have made the Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year, who continued to pull up trees and is targeting selection at a fifth Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Five

France were represented by five players in this year’s RugbyPass Top 50. Undeniably it was a year that started well for François Ratier’s team, but derailed slightly by the conclusion of WXV Global Series 2026 after three losses at the hands of the Black Ferns in New Zealand.

Ultimately, Léa Champon [45th] was the sole French representative on the World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year 2026. The Grenoble flanker had also been named the best French international player at the Nuit du Rugby in September. The flanker replaces her international and club teammate Teani Feleu as the awards recipient.

Feleu earned a place on the list after breaking back into the France XV. Utilised in the back-row by the former coaching staff, installed as a centre by Ratier allowed her to shine and was named 47th on the Top 50. Her sister, France captain Manae, missed WXV Global Series to focus on her medical studies after a bright Women’s Six Nations and was 34th.

Madoussou Fall Raclot and Justine Bourdon Sansus were the highest-ranked French players. The former placed 18th after a frighteningly physical Women’s Six Nations and will not be seen on the pitch for some time as she expects her first child. Bourdon Sansus was a leading light for France as they went to a Grand Slam decider with England at the Women’s Six Nations and led her team in September at WXV Global Series before now travelling in September.