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Red Roses are the top-rated rugby team of all-time
By Jon Newcombe
Back-to-back WXV 1 champions England have become the highest-rated team – men’s or women’s – in the history of the World Rugby Rankings.
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The Red Roses gained 0.60 points for their hard-fought 21-12 win over Canada in Sunday’s title decider at BC Place in Vancouver, to increase their advantage over the tournament hosts at the top of the rankings to 8.25 points.
Before this weekend no team had ever broken through the 97-point barrier since rankings were first introduced (for men’s teams) in 2003 – not even the All Blacks or the Springboks during their periods of dominance.
But the Red Roses have now smashed through that glass ceiling, as their 20th consecutive win will boost their rating to 97.56 points once World Rugby officially updates the rankings at 12 noon on Monday (BST). Their previous best, and the best of any team, was 96.99 points, which was established just before their Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 final defeat to New Zealand in November 2022.
A fierce contest in Vancouver 👊
Enjoy highlights of the #RedRoses’ @WXVRugby decider against hosts Canada.#CANvENG | #WXV pic.twitter.com/TcznchUooY
— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) October 13, 2024
Canada remain in second place, on 89.31 points, while New Zealand and France are third and fourth, respectively, after the Black Ferns beat Les Bleues 39-14 in their final game.
As the top four ranked teams ahead of Thursday’s draw for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, England, Canada, New Zealand and France will be placed in band one.
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Having secured the WXV 2 title after a 31-22 win over reigning champions Scotland, Australia are the highest ranked team in band two, moving up from seventh to fifth.
WXV 1 runners-up Ireland are the next highest ranked team in sixth, and both they and Australia will be joined in band two by Scotland, who have dropped to seventh and Italy. The Azzurre climbed into band two after gaining a place for their 23-19 win over hosts South Africa.
USA’s 26-14 defeat to Ireland has seen them drop to ninth, and into band three, along with Wales, Japan and South Africa.
Band four includes WXV 3 champions Spain, runners-up Samoa, Fiji and the lowest-ranked team in the competition, Brazil.
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To compare women's rugby to men's is ridiculous .....can't be done ....let's compare apples with apples RP
I'm a long time supporter of England Rugby Male and Female. But what these woman have done is absolutely fantastic, the male team should take their inspiration from these woman, they play with so much commitment and pride they deserve to be recognised for there achievements. Sadly our pathetic sports reporter's and MSM do not give them the credit they are vastly over due. I am embarrassed as an England Rugby fan that there superb achievements are not recognised because of a pathetic media.
Keep going ladies, you make me proud to support you.
Roger 😘👍😁
I would imagine that the band 2 teams would like to be in England’s group. So if they can beat the teams from bands 3 and 4 they wouldn’t presumably have to play England again until the Final, though World Rugby I don’t think have stated yet how the QFs and SFs will be decided. Surely they must know but they are not telling anyone.
So England can play rugby after all.