IN THE SPOTLIGHT: South Africa Women have a chance to climb one spot when they take on Japan Women in the WXV 2 opener on Friday at the Cape Town Stadium.
The Bok Women will become the higher ranked of the two teams if they beat Japan, equalling their all-time high of 11th which they last occupied in October 2022.
Japan are unable to improve on 11th place even with victory by more than 15 points as they currently trail Italy above by 6.61 rating points.
Spain cannot improve their rating with victory over WXV 3 debutants Madagascar given the 18.81 points difference between the two nations.
Defending WXV 1 champions England cannot improve their rating with victory over USA in the opening match due to the 21.93 points difference between the two teams.
The same will be true of world champions New Zealand from their opener against Ireland who are 14.07 rating points below the Black Ferns.
This means that even in victory, New Zealand will lose second place to Canada if the WXV 1 hosts beat France in Sunday’s second match at BC Place in Vancouver.
If Canada and New Zealand’s matches both end in a draw then the tournament hosts would also climb to second – a position they occupied for eight weeks following their historic win over the Black Ferns in the World Rugby Pacific Four Series in May.
France will remain fourth even with a heavy defeat given they go into the match with a 10.49 rating-point cushion over Scotland in fifth.
A win for Les Bleues will lift them above Canada, but if Ireland also avoid defeat against New Zealand then France will climb to second for the first time since July 2016.
If New Zealand lose to Ireland they could drop to a new low of fourth, depending on the outcome of Canada v France.
Ireland could jump two places to fifth – a position they haven’t occupied since August 2017 – if they can beat New Zealand, depending on the margin and results for Scotland and Australia.
England cannot slip from number one even if beaten by USA for the first time since the Women’s Rugby World Cup 1991 final, a result which could see the Women’s Eagles jump to fifth place.
Australia can equal their highest position of fifth if they avenge last week’s loss to Wales with victory in WXV 2 in Cape Town and Scotland are beaten by Italy and USA and Ireland both lose to higher-ranked opponents.
Such a victory could see Italy jump four places to sixth, one place above Scotland.
Defeat by more than 15 points could see Scotland drop to ninth with Australia also potentially dropping four places to 10th depending on margin of defeat and other results.
