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Red Roses are the top-rated rugby team of all-time
By Jon Newcombe
Back-to-back WXV 1 champions England have become the highest-rated team – men's or women's – in the history of the World Rugby Rankings.
The Red Roses gained 0.60 points for their hard-fought 21-12 win over Canada in Sunday's title decider at BC Place in Vancouver, to increase their advantage over the tournament hosts at the top of the rankings to 8.25 points.
Before this weekend no team had ever broken through the 97-point barrier since rankings were first introduced (for men's teams) in 2003 – not even the All Blacks or the Springboks during their periods of dominance.
But the Red Roses have now smashed through that glass ceiling, as their 20th consecutive win will boost their rating to 97.56 points once World Rugby officially updates the rankings at 12 noon on Monday (BST). Their previous best, and the best of any team, was 96.99 points, which was established just before their Women's Rugby World Cup 2021 final defeat to New Zealand in November 2022.
Canada remain in second place, on 89.31 points, while New Zealand and France are third and fourth, respectively, after the Black Ferns beat Les Bleues 39-14 in their final game.
As the top four ranked teams ahead of Thursday's draw for Women's Rugby World Cup 2025, England, Canada, New Zealand and France will be placed in band one.
Having secured the WXV 2 title after a 31-22 win over reigning champions Scotland, Australia are the highest ranked team in band two, moving up from seventh to fifth.
WXV 1 runners-up Ireland are the next highest ranked team in sixth, and both they and Australia will be joined in band two by Scotland, who have dropped to seventh and Italy. The Azzurre climbed into band two after gaining a place for their 23-19 win over hosts South Africa.
USA's 26-14 defeat to Ireland has seen them drop to ninth, and into band three, along with Wales, Japan and South Africa.
Band four includes WXV 3 champions Spain, runners-up Samoa, Fiji and the lowest-ranked team in the competition, Brazil.
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Latest Comments
a long long time ago, when I was writing articles myself (as a way to earn some money during my university studies) there was some editing involved .... if I had put up crap like "better than a British Lion" I would have got called into the editor-in-chief's office and been reminded about taking the profession seriously ....
Go to commentsno way France would join .... why would they, the Top14 is perhaps the healthiest competition in (professional) club rugby and even the D2 seems to be up and running ..... I can't see any selling point to be convincing ....
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