The current short pause in international calendar gives us an opportunity to look at the latest ScrymQueens Women Test Rugby Rankings, produced for us by Serge Piquet.

The rankings – which also take into account the recent European Championship - do not quite follow the final positions at the World Cup, partly because they continue to take into account pre-tournament games, but also because they give equal weight to all pool games as well as the finals. As a result Canada do well from their drawn game with England, as well as reaching the final, sufficient to now move above France into third place.

Similarly although Australia break into the top 10 for the first time, their lack of test matches in the years prior to the tournament still hold them back behind Wales – despite their beating the Welsh in Marcoussis.

Spain’s participation also sees them break into the top 10, for the first time opening up a significant gap over both Italy and Scotland who slip into 11th and 12th. Supporters of the Nomads will also see their position slipping slightly as a result of their losses against South Africa prior to the World Cup.

The European Championship has given Netherlands a small boost, but otherwise had little effect on the positions other than allowing Belgium to close the gap on Russia. Switzerland’s last-play defeat to the Russians also keeps them just outside the top 20.

Overall what is noticeable is how the gaps between some teams have closed. New Zealand and England, while they continue to occupy the top two places, are no longer hundreds of points ahead of the rest and each country from first to sixth place is barely 100 points or less behind the team above.

These six teams – England, New Zealand, Canada, France, Ireland and the United States – now appear to be the “Premier League” of women’s rugby, all capable of upsetting each other.

A “Second Division” has also now emerged, running from 7th to roughly 14th in the table, with little or nothing to choose between Wales, Australia, Spain and South Africa, and with Italy, Scotland, Samoa and Kazakhstan also not far behind.

After these eight there is a sizable gap before Netherlands and Sweden, and then a near 1,000 point gulf before Russia and the rest.

Promising through this sounds it has to be a concern to look ahead and wonder how many of these teams will play any serious test rugby in the next three years. While the “Premier League” will continue to be active, the unfortunate truth is that, despite XVs rugby’s undoubted popularity with both players and spectators, perhaps half of the next tier are unlikely to play many – if any – tests between now and the next World Cup.

1 England 5117 2 New Zealand 5076 3 Canada 4984 4 France 4950 5 Ireland 4814 6 United States 4788 7 Wales 4488 8 Australia 4397 9 Spain 4379 10 South Africa 4332 11 Italy 4115 12 Scotland 3922 13 Samoa 3579 14 Kazakhstan 3483 * Nomads 3452 15 Netherlands 2971 16 Sweden 2942 17 Russia 2065 18 Belgium 1951 19 Germany 1929 20 Japan 1828 21 Hong Kong 1588 22 Finland 1518 23 Switzerland 1475 24 Singapore 1343 25 Kenya 1102 26 Uganda 1066 27 China 951 28 Norway 914 29 Romania 810 30 Trinidad & Tobago. 804 31 Fiji 704 32 Cayman 683 33 Thailand 670 34 Uzbekistan 647 35 Denmark 631 36 Jamaica 594 37 Tonga 530 Caribbean Select 619 38 Philippines 515 39 Luxembourg 491 40 Malaysia 478 41 Czech Rep. 476 42 Laos 458 43 Guyana 440 44 Brazil 400 45 Serbia 355 46 Rwanda 348 47 Barbados 298 48 Bosnia & Herz. 260 49 Austria 246 50 Colombia 199 51 Namibia 188 52 Zambia 183 53 Mayotte 181 54 Bahamas 178 55 Croatia 167 56 St Vincent 133 57 Portugal 126 58 Kyrgyzstan 125 59 Burundi 123 60 Venezuela 106 61 Réunion 91 62 Cambodia 86 63 Botswana 86 64 Hungary 81 65 PNG 68 66 Zimbabwe 57

© Serge PIQUET - Novembre 2014 / November 2014