Rugby | World Rugby Women's Rankings 22-24 August, 2025

World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the opening round of the Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 in England this weekend.

Permutation highlights:

• Only one of the eight matches on the opening weekend of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 will result in a positional change if the higher-ranked team wins – Scotland v Wales in Manchester.
• Some 3.15 rating points currently separate Scotland in eighth from Wales in ninth, but victory for the Scots in their Pool B opener will see them jump two places to sixth if Italy are also beaten by France.
• This is because Australia cannot improve their rating with victory over Samoa, a side with a rating 16.59 points lower than their Pool A opponents.
• It is possible for Scotland to equal their highest-ever position of fifth, but that would also require Ireland to lose to Japan in Northampton on Sunday.
• The same could happen if Ireland draw and Scotland beat Wales by more than 15 points – a scenario which would see Japan enter the top 10 for the first time since the rankings were introduced in February 2016 and the Welsh equal their lowest-ever position of 11th.
• Six places may currently separate Japan from Ireland in the rankings, but with points exchanges doubled during a Women’s Rugby World Cup, the Sakura Fifteen will be the higher ranked team if they win by more than 15 points with Ireland potentially dropping four places to ninth.
• Ireland can only gain mere thousandths of a rating point by beating Japan, just enough to improve their rating by 0.01 to 78.82.
• The only other higher ranked team able to improve their rating with victory this weekend is France, albeit only by a maximum of 0.10 points if they beat Italy by more than 15 points. This would not be enough to improve on fourth place, for that to happen Les Bleues would need defending champions New Zealand to suffer a shock defeat to Spain or Canada to lose by more than 15 points to Fiji.
• A smaller margin of defeat will still be enough to end Canada’s grip on second place if New Zealand avoid the same fate against Las Leonas in York on Sunday.
• Canada will remain second if victorious, but their deficit to England above will be slashed significantly if their North American neighbours can stun the tournament hosts in the opening match in Sunderland.
• The deficit – currently 7.63 points – could be cut to as little as 1.63 if the Women’s Eagles can beat England for the first time since the Women’s Rugby World Cup 1991 final and by more than 15 points.
• England cannot improve their rating as a consequence of the 25.71 points difference them and USA in 10th, however even in defeat the Women’s Eagles can still gain a place if Wales lose to Scotland.
• The Women’s Eagles could jump as many as five places depending on the margin and the outcome of other matches with any shocks likely to lead to a significant shake-up of the rankings.
• Italy, for example, will equal their highest ranking of fifth if they can beat France and will become the higher ranked of the two nations in fourth if the margin is more than 15 points.
• Fiji can reach a new high of 13th if they can upset Canada, while Samoa’s reward for claiming the scalp of Australia will be a climb of a couple of places.
• Meanwhile a draw would be enough to lift Brazil to a new high of 24th with an historic victory on their Women’s Rugby World Cup debut to see As Yaras climb at least four places to 21st.

Match officials:

• Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) will referee England in the opening match of a Women's Rugby World Cup for the second time, having overseen the Red Roses' victory over Spain in 2017. This will be the first time the South African referees the England v USA fixture, but the two have contrasting fortunes with Barrett-Theron in the middle as the Red Roses have won all 16 tests and the Women's Eagles have lost all five. 
• Lauren Jenner (Italy) takes charge of Samoa in a test for the first time in their Pool A encounter with Australia. This will be the second time the New Zealand-born official referees the Wallaroos on the Women's Rugby World Cup stage, having been in the middle for their 14-12 defeat of Scotland in the pool stage of RWC 2021. 
• Maggie Cogger-Orr (New Zealand) will referee Scotland v Wales for the second time, having been in the middle for Wales' 34-22 victory in the 2023 Women's Six Nations. Scotland have won only one test with Cogger-Orr in the middle, while she refereed Wales on her test debut in April 2022 but they only tasted victory last month in the first test of their series with Australia.
• Aurélie Groizeleau (France) will become the fourth female to referee 40 test matches when she takes charge of Canada v Fiji. Canada have won all three previous matches with Groizeleau in the middle, including the historic defeat of New Zealand in 2024 and this month's warm-up win in Ireland. The French official's only test involving Fiji was their Women's Rugby World Cup debut against England at Eden Park. 
• Sara Cox (England) takes charge of France v Italy for the seventh time with Les Bleues having won five of them, including the most recent in the Women's Six Nations in April. Italy's sole win in the fixture came back in 2019, but the Azzurre have won twice this year with Cox in the middle, beating both Wales and Japan. 
• Clara Munarini (Italy) will referee Ireland v Japan for the second time, having been in the middle for a slender 15-12 Irish win in November 2021. Ireland's only defeat with Munarini in the middle was a big one, the last-gasp loss to Scotland ending their hopes of qualifying for RWC 2021. 
• Hollie Davidson (Scotland), who refereed the RWC 2021 final at Eden Park, will take charge of South Africa and Women's Rugby World Cup debutants Brazil for the first time. She has already refereed the South Africa men's side this year in their 42-24 defeat of Italy in July. 
• Ella Goldsmith (Australia) makes her Women's Rugby World Cup debut with the final match of the opening weekend, New Zealand v Spain in York. The Australian will take charge of New Zealand for the first time, while Spain won their only match with Goldsmith in charge, beating Brazil 41-12 in March.

The rankings preview and match official profiles for the opening round can be read via the Match Notes page in the Media Zone, where individual match packs will also be available once the teams have been announced.