World Rugby Women's Rankings preview

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the final round of WXV 2024 matches in Canada, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates this weekend. 

Permutation highlights:

• France will climb above New Zealand into third place if they beat the Black Ferns – condemning their opponents to their lowest-ever ranking.
• Les Bleues cannot fall from fourth place, even if they suffer a heavy loss against New Zealand.
• WXV 1 hosts Canada are safe in second place, even if beaten by England in the title decider as they will only lose a maximum of 0.89 rating points to drop to 89.01. Neither France or New Zealand can get to 89 rating points this weekend, even with a victory by more than 15 points over one another.
• England will increase their rating to 97.85 with victory by more than 15 points – the highest ever rating recorded in either the men’s or women’s rankings.
• However, a first defeat against Canada since July 2016 could see England’s cushion at the top slashed from 7.06 rating points to as little as 2.84 points.
• Australia can equal their highest-ever ranking of fifth if they beat Scotland in the battle of the unbeaten WXV 2 teams in Cape Town with a two-place climb possible, depending on Ireland’s result against USA on Friday.
• A draw would still be enough for the Wallaroos to climb one place to sixth so long as Ireland fail to beat USA.
• USA will become the higher ranked of the two teams if they beat Ireland in WXV 1, climbing one or two places depending on the outcome of the WXV 2 title decider.
• Ireland could fall two places if they lose to USA.
• However, Ireland can climb to fifth if they win and Scotland draw with Australia.
• If Australia secure a narrow victory then Ireland must beat USA by more than 15 points.
• Italy will climb above the Women’s Eagles into eighth place if they beat South Africa and USA lose to Ireland a day earlier.
• Wales can climb above Italy into ninth if they beat Japan and the Azzurre lose to South Africa, providing that one of the winning margins is more than 15 points.
• South Africa can secure an immediate return to 11th place if they beat Italy and Japan fail to beat Wales in the opening WXV 2 match of the round on Friday.
• If both Japan and South Africa taste victory over higher ranked opponents then the Springbok Women can only return to 11th if they win by more than 15 points and the Sakura Fifteens beat Wales by a smaller margin.
• Both Japan and South Africa will slip no lower than 12th as Spain cannot catch them with victory over Fiji in WXV 3.
• A victorious Japan cannot secure enough points to enter the top 10 but could close to within 0.65 rating points of Wales if they win by more than 15 points.
• Fiji will regain the two places they lost with the defeat to Samoa if they can overcome Spain in the last WXV 3 2024 encounter in the United Arab Emirates.
• However, they cannot catch Las Leonas in 13th place as victory by more than 15 points would still leave them 0.74 rating points adrift of Spain.
• Samoa cannot improve their rating with victory over Madagascar as a result of the 15.27 points difference between the two teams, although a win would achieve their aim of qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup.
• Madagascar would climb above Portugal into a new high of 24th if they upset Manusina for what would their first victory outside of Africa.
• Hong Kong China will become the higher ranked of the two nations if they beat the Netherlands in their final WXV 3 match.
• They could potentially climb as high as 15th – equalling their highest-ever ranking – but this would require them to win by more than 15 points and both Samoa and Fiji to lose.

Match officials: 

• Maggie Cogger-Orr (New Zealand) takes charge of USA v Ireland for the first time with both teams yet to lose with her as the referee. It will be the second time this year she referees the Women's Eagles, having overseen their World Rugby Pacific Four Series victory over Australia in May that confirmed their Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification. 
  
• Sara Cox (England) will referee New Zealand v France for the second time, but first for nearly six years since the Black Ferns ran out 14-0 winners in Toulon. This is the 15th time she has refereed France with Les Bleues having won the last six matches, while New Zealand suffered their first defeat in eight tests with Cox in charge against Ireland in round one.
• Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) will referee the WXV 1 title decider between England and Canada, a fixture she has taken charge of on two previous occasions with the Red Roses' 49-12 win in November 2017 and 26-19 victory in the Women's Rugby World Cup 2021 semi-finals in November 2022. 
• Ella Goldsmith (Australia) will take charge of Wales v Japan for the first time, having already refereed both teams in 2024 with Wales' 8-5 loss to Italy last weekend and Japan’s 17-17 draw with USA in August.
• Precious Pazani (Zimbabwe) referees Italy for the first time, having been an assistant referee for their opening WXV 2 2024 loss to Scotland. By contrast she has refereed South Africa on eight occasions, including last weekend's 33-26 loss to Australia. 
• Clara Munarini (Italy) will take charge of Australia v Scotland for the first time in what will be her 30th test match as a referee. It will be the third time the Italian referees each team in 2024 which each having a won one, lost one record.  
• Holly Wood (England) will referee Madagascar for the first time when they face Samoa in WXV 3 on Friday. It will be Wood's second time refereeing Samoa in this tournament, having overseen their record 45-17 defeat of Fiji last weekend. 
• Tyler Miller (Australia) will take charge of the Netherlands for the first time in a test, having been an assistant referee for their 20-0 loss to Spain last weekend. She refereed their opponents Hong Kong China for the first time in their 38-3 loss to Fiji in round one. 
• Natarsha Ganley (New Zealand) referees Spain for the first time when they take on Fiji, a team she took charge of on her debut in the middle last September. Ganley has refereed Fiji on two occasions, the other being earlier this year when they lost 64-5 to Australia in Sydney.