How Bok Women can prevent a drop in World Rankings
NEWS: South Africa Women will have to produce a mammoth performance against Australia if they want to put pressure on the top 10 teams in the world.
The two teams meet this Saturday in Round Two of the WXV 2 at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town.
A victory over Australia may not be enough for South Africa to keep hold of 11th place as they could lose the position immediately back to Japan, the side they beat last weekend.
If both South Africa and Japan upset higher-ranked opponents this weekend, the only way the Springbok Women can keep hold of 11th is if they win by more than 15 points and Japan beat Scotland by a smaller margin.
Draws or defeats for both teams will see Japan return to 11th with South Africa 12th.
Canada cannot improve their rating with victory over Ireland in WXV 1 as a result of the 12.65 points difference between the teams before home weighting is factored in.
However, they can slip back to third even in victory but that would require New Zealand to beat England by more than 15 points, something they haven’t done since July 2015.
In this scenario, England’s cushion at the top of the rankings would be slashed from seven rating points to 3.71 points.
England can only gain a maximum of 0.06 rating points for beating world champions New Zealand which means the Black Ferns are safe in third place even with a heavy defeat.
This is because France cannot improve their rating with a victory over the eighth-ranked USA given the 11.53 points difference between the two teams.
The Black Ferns could actually lose by more than 15 points and still secure an immediate return to second place, albeit only if Ireland beat Canada by the same margin.
France will still sit comfortably in fourth even if beaten emphatically by USA in the weekend’s opening WXV 1 fixture in Vancouver.
If Ireland can back up their win over New Zealand with a draw against hosts Canada they will climb one place to fifth so long as Scotland fail to beat Japan in their WXV 2 encounter.
The outcome will be the same if both sides are victorious as Scotland are unable to improve their rating with victory over the Sakura Fifteens due to the 11.03 points between the two nations.
Scotland could drop two places to seventh in defeat if Australia beat South Africa in Cape Town – three if the USA were to also upset the higher-ranked France.
The Women’s Eagles could jump as many as three places to fifth – equalling their highest-ever position – if they beat Les Bleues by more than 15 points and Scotland and Australia fail to win and Ireland lose.
Wales will climb back above Italy if they win their encounter in WXV 2.
A victorious Italy cannot improve on ninth place in their own right as they need to win by more than 15 points and for Australia lose by the same margin to climb to eighth.
Wales cannot drop out of the top 10 if beaten heavily by Italy.
