Women's international rugby rankings

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

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)

*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