World Rugby rankings: Wallaroos leapfrog Scotland after Edinburgh win

The Wallaroos have jumped up two places in the World Rugby rankings thanks to their 30-10 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh.

Led by Director of Women’s High Performance Tim Walsh during the WXV Global Series, alongside a number of interim coaches ahead of Sione Fukofuka’s arrival as head coach in January, the side played their second Test of the year against the Scots at Hive Stadium.

It was an historic afternoon for the women in gold. Michaela Leonard became the first player to earn 50 caps for the Wallaroos, while Desiree Miller’s try saw her become the first player to gain 100 Test points for the team.

Their victory, which was inspired by Faitala Moleka’s player of the match performance, has seen the side move from ninth in the world rankings to seventh.

“Really pleased to finish off what’s been a really tough campaign for us,” Michael Ruthven, Wallaroos assistant coach, said.

“The girls have certainly been progressing in our performance week to week, so it’s a really pleasing way to finish.

“We certainly had to work hard for it, but I thought the girls really increased the tempo in the second half and were able to score some tries.”

This result has seen their opponents from the weekend, Scotland, move to ninth and Italy – who lost out to South Africa on Saturday afternoon – drop to eighth.

Australia were not the only side to move in the rankings.

Defeat for Wales against the USA Women’s Eagles in Cardiff – as Freda Tafuna scored a hat-trick at the Arms Park – and Japan’s seven-point loss to Ireland in Galway has seen the Sakura Fifteen replace Wales in 11th place.

Samoa’s 34-17 win against Hong Kong China in their final WXV Global Series Challenger 2026 fixture has seen the Pacific Islanders jump two places up the World Rugby rankings to 15th. The Netherlands have dropped to 16th and Hong Kong China to 17th.