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Women's international rugby rankings

October was been a quiet month for test rugby. With only one match, between teams (Namibia and Botswana) both new to test rugby there is very little change in the ScrumQueens rankings. However, there were several important international sevens tournaments – and many countries now play far more sevens than they do fifteens.

So - for one month only - how would the world rankings look if we took into account sevens as well?

The top 50 places in last month’s ScrumQueens test ranking remain unchanged – although Finland gained five points in 21st place following a win in a non-international fixture. Namibia now join the list in 51st place (between Colombia and Zambia), while Botswana are 60th, alongside with Cambodia and just above Hungary.

Test rankings - positions 50-64

50Colombia203
51Namibia192
52Zambia186
53Bahamas182
54Croatia170
55St Vincent & Grenadines136
56Portugal128
57Kyrgyzstan127
58Burundi125
59Venezuela108
60Cambodia88
61Botswana88
62Hungary83
63Papua New Guinea69
64Zimbabwe58

 

With so little activity elsewhere there is no purpose in republishing the rest of ranking – but we will return to it next month, after the Autumn Internationals.

Teams play more international sevens than fifteens tests, and many nations play only sevens. In response Serge Piquet (who compiles our test rankings) recently produced a similar ranking for sevens rugby, based on the same principles.

As a result, it is possible to combine the two rankings and discover which are the most successful all-round women’s rugby nations at both forms of the game.

Compared to the test match rankings the top two – New Zealand and England – remain the same, but elsewhere there is considerable movement. Canada and the USA leapfrog over France into third and fourth, while other teams at the top of the table also make significant gains - Spain (up three places to sixth), Australia (up four to eighth), Netherlands (up four to 10th), and Russia (up five places to 12th).

The major losers among the top teams - other than France - are Wales (down six places to 13th), Italy (down three to 11th) and Scotland (down three to 14th).

Elsewhere the table suggests potential powerhouses of women’s rugby who are overlooked because they never (or hardly ever) play tests. Compared to their test ranking, Portugal leap up 24 places to 32nd, while Papua New Guinea climb 27 places to 36th. Tunisia - who have never played a test - appear at very respectable 26th in the combined table, while Ukraine join at 35th, just below Kenya. 

Women's rugby international rankings (15s and 7s)
(Includes all test matches and 7s internationals from 1982 to 31st October 2013)

Combined ranking

 15s ranking 7s rankingCombined points*
1New Zealand1(↔)110000
2England2(↔)59663
3Canada5(↑2)29473
4United States4(↔)39416
5France3(↓2)119000
6Spain9(↑3)68796
7Ireland6(↓1)98726
8Australia12(↑4)48468
9South Africa10(↑1)157955
10Netherlands14(↑4)107364
11Italy8(↓3)187114
12Russia17(↑5)76775
13Wales7(↓6)246756
14Scotland11(↓3)256491
15Japan19(↑4)135816
16Kazakhstan15(↓1)195729
17Samoa16(↓1)235206
18Sweden13(↓5)315160
19China25(↑6)125128
20Germany18(↓2)175029
21Fiji31(↑10)84999
22Brazil43(↑21)144276
23Hong Kong22(↓1)204058
24Belgium20(↓4)303907
25Singapore23(↓2)273427
26TunisiaNo tests 163407
27Finland21(↓6)463267
28Thailand33(↑5)282913
29Switzerland27(↓2)322908
30Uganda24(↓6)392846
31Trinidad & Tobago30(↓1)332808
32Portugal56(↑24)212786
33Romania29(↓4)382651
34Kenya28(↓6)442557
35UkraineNo tests 222545
36Papua New Guina63(↑27)262433
37Norway26(↓11)542379
38Philippines38(↔)432224
39ArgentinaNo tests 292171
40Denmark35(↓5)502129
41Czech Rep.47(↑6)362129
42Croatia54(↑12)371987
43Austria49(↑6)421961
44Chinese TaipeiNo tests 341893
45MoldovaNo tests 351850
46Hungary62(↑16)401801
47Jamaica36(↓11)651791
48PolandNo tests 411708
49Colombia50(↑1)471701
50Malaysia40(↓10)641672
51Uzbekistan34(↓17)761638
52GeorgiaNo tests 451580
53Laos41(↓12)701571
54Tonga37(↓17)781480
55UruguayNo tests 481458
56ChileNo tests 491458
57Luxembourg39(↓18)771442
58UAENo tests 511426
59South KoreaNo tests 521408
60Venezuela59(↓1)591400
61IndiaNo tests 531394
62Sri LankaNo tests 551354
63MaltaNo tests 561329
64GuamNo tests 571325
65IsraelNo tests 581320
66Zimbabwe64(↓2)611296
67Guyana42(↓25)811290
68LatviaNo tests 601253
69BulgariaNo tests 621205
70Zambia52(↓18)751170
71Cook IslandsNo tests 631154
72AndorraNo tests 661139
73Bosnia & Herzegovina48(↓25)791134
74Serbia44(↓30)831123
75SloveniaNo tests 671123
76PeruNo tests 681100
77ParaguayNo tests 691084
78IranNo tests 711051
79LithuaniaNo tests 721042
80MexicoNo tests 731020
81SenegalNo tests 74972
82Barbados46(↓36)89818
83Saint LuciaNo tests 80810
84SlovakiaNo tests 82752
85Rwanda45(↓40)98715
86Cayman IslandsNo tests 84713
87MadagascarNo tests 85693
88MoroccoNo tests 86677
89Botswana61(↓28)88602
90HawaiiNo tests 87548
91St Vincent & the Grenadines55(↓36)95521
92New CaledoniaNo tests 90460
93Solomon IslandsNo tests 91442
94Cambodia60(↓34)99423
95Burkina FasoNo tests 92408
96GuadeloupeNo tests 93386
97ReunionNo tests 94375
98TurkeyNo tests 96362
99MayotteNo tests 97334
100Kyrgyzstan57(↓43)108332
101French PolonesiaNo tests 100322
102IndonesiaNo tests 101290
103BermudaNo tests 102269
104Burundi58(↓46)114261
105Bahamas53(↓52)119247
106Ivory CoastNo tests 103240
107Niue No tests 104218
108NigeriaNo tests 105218
109GhanaNo tests 106213
110CameroonNo tests 107202
111CubaNo tests 109182
112EgyptNo tests 110176
113TogoNo tests 111148
114British Virgin IslandsNo tests 112134
115GuatemalaNo tests 113132
116CuraçaoNo tests 11587
117El SalvadorNo tests 11683
118French GuyanaNo tests 11782
119Costa RicaNo tests 11878
120MartiniqueNo tests 12045
121St Kitts & NevisNo tests 12139
122MaliNo tests 12234
123NigerNo tests 12332
124San MarinoNo tests 12422
125GuineaNo tests 12521
126MauritaniaNo tests 12621
127VanuatuNo tests 12717
128Wallis & FutunaNo tests 12817
129MauritiusNo tests 12916

*The total points have been slightly rebased so that 15s and 7s is given equal weight (as teams tend to play more sevens, Serge's tables tend to give more points to sevens teams). The top teams in each table has been given 5000 points, with other team's points scores adjusted accordingly. For more information about how the points are calculated see this article.

©  Serge PIQUET - Novembre 2013 / November 2013