Two-year high for Ireland in women's world rankings

Ireland's stunning 29-27 win over New Zealand in the opening round of WXV 1 has sent Scott Bemand's side up to sixth in the World Rugby Women's Rankings.

The last time that Ireland were as high as sixth was for one week only in August 2022. They are, however, still two places from matching their all-time best.

With two points added to their rating, Ireland are only two-thirds of a point behind Scotland in fifth.

New Zealand, meanwhile, have dropped down to third. Having never been outside of the top two before this year, the Black Ferns have now suffered that fate twice in the last five months.

They slipped to third back in May when they lost their World Rugby Pacific Four series crown to Canada and have done so again following the loss of two rating points.

Even if New Zealand had beaten Ireland, Canada would still have overtaken them as England's nearest rivals following their 46-24 win over France at BC Place.

Canada face Ireland in what should be a humdinger of a match in the next round of WXV 1 on Saturday 5 October.

It was a weekend full of movement in the rankings all round, with games across all three levels. But one thing has remained consistent: England's dominance at the top.

Despite not playing at their best, the Red Roses were still too strong for USA, winning 61-21, which leaves them exactly seven points clear of Canada in first place.

England's unbroken reign as the world's highest ranked team dates back to 16 November, 2020.

Elsewhere, Australia dropped to seventh even though they beat Wales convincingly 37-5, while Italy have moved ahead of Wales and into ninth even though they lost 19-0 to Scotland in WXV 2.

South Africa's 31-24 win over Japan in WXV 2 has resulted in the teams swapping places with the tournament's host nation up to 12th, while Fiji's 38-3 win over Hong Kong China in WXV 3 has seen them replace Russia in 14th.

Samoa also gained one place, an 8-8 draw with WXV 3 debutants Netherlands lifting them up to 17th.