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Historic weekend for Scotland in Women's Rankings

Chloe Rollie is congratulated by her teammates after scoring a try in Scotland's 59-15 win over Fiji. Photo: SRU

As another tangible sign of the continued progress made under long-standing head coach Bryan Easson and captain Rachel Malcolm, Scotland Women are now up to a record high of fifth in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings.

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While Scotland’s 59-15 win over Fiji in the first-ever meeting between the teams at Hive Stadium on Saturday didn’t lead to an increase in their rating, Easson’s team have moved above Australia courtesy of the Wallaroos’ shock 36-10 defeat at the hands of Ireland in Belfast.

Australia conceded more points than ever before in losing to Ireland and that has led to their rating dropping to 76.28 points – half a point fewer than the Scots, who were outside of the top 10 as recently as April 2023.

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‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup

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    ‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup

    With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
    in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
    will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

    Register now for the ticket presale

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    Scotland’s rise to fifth comes on the eve of WXV 2 title defence in Cape Town, where they will look to pick up further points in the rankings. However, it is unlikely that they will make serious inroads into the gap between themselves and France in fourth as they are separated by 10.5 points.

    Last year’s WXV 3 champions Ireland are also on the up, gaining two places at the expense of USA and Italy. Ireland are still some way short of their best-ever position fourth but seventh place is the highest they’ve been since August 2022.

    Meanwhile, USA drop to eighth and Italy to ninth. Italy’s reward for beating Japan 24-8 in Piacenza was only 0.09 points, which wasn’t enough for them to consolidate their position.

    England remain out in front, having preserved their 7.58-point lead over New Zealand with a 24-12 win against the Black Ferns at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.

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    T
    TL 50 minutes ago
    'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

    I agree, the comparison to Rassie in 2021 is unfair. Schmidt despite being highly emotional was scrupulous in not making it a personal grudge match, and in the circumstances I think he behaved in a decent way. What Rassie did was unhinged and extreme. Why fudge the two together? It’s much more common for coaches to do what Joe did, and it was unusual for him, he resisted efforts of journo’s to get him talking about the cards that weren’t in Test 1. He’s taken exception in this instance, if he was doing it all the time I’d dismiss it, but he’s got some cred so I take it a little more seriously when he speaks up.


    Otherwise Mr Bishop/ Nick you have yet again proven your acumen as a selector and tactician this series, making calls before not after the event, like any good analyst would. Schmidt was cruelled by injuries this series, more than was apparent initially. In both games injuries to Bobby V and Skelton’s fitness hampered the WBs, and Gleeson in Test 1, and Noah before, and JAS leading in. Picking TT would have been a huge risk after SR form, but yes, seems like it would have been worth taking in hindsight and many were suggesting before. We just don’t have the depth for that not to make a big impact. But Joe seems to have put his chips on Williams as long termer and is investing in him, like he did players in Ireland, when Williams is yet to deliver in this series (although the lineout has been solid when he’s on). Perhaps his time will come. JAS defence is perhaps the biggest issue as Nick you’ve pointed out now on multiple occasions. I just get flummoxed myself thinking about it, as any solution creates another problem, perhaps he just needs time and it just had to be this way….At the very least we need an A/B test and see what the experiment uncovers.


    As an Australian I stick to the paradoxical blend of unrealistic optimism and fatalism in reflecting on these decisions that has at once been the blessing and cruse of our culture historically.

    21 Go to comments
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