How WXV's final round will impact World Rankings
NEWS: South Africa Women can climb on the World Rugby rankings when they take on Italy in Round Three of the WXV 2 in Cape Town.
South Africa can secure an immediate return to 11th place if they beat Italy and Japan fail to beat Wales in the opening WXV 2 match of the round on Friday.
If both Japan and South Africa taste victory over higher-ranked opponents then the Springbok Women can only return to 11th if they win by more than 15 points and the Sakura Fifteens beat Wales by a smaller margin.
Both Japan and South Africa will slip no lower than 12th as Spain cannot catch them with victory over Fiji in WXV 3.
A victorious Japan cannot secure enough points to enter the top 10 but could close to within 0.65 rating points of Wales if they win by more than 15 points.
Wales can climb above Italy into ninth if they beat Japan and the Azzurre lose to South Africa, providing that one of the winning margins is more than 15 points.
France will climb above New Zealand into third place if they beat the Black Ferns – condemning their opponents to their lowest-ever ranking.
Les Bleues cannot fall from fourth place, even if they suffer a heavy loss against New Zealand.
WXV 1 hosts Canada are safe in second place, even if beaten by England in the title decider as they will only lose a maximum of 0.89 rating points to drop to 89.01. Neither France nor New Zealand can get to 89 rating points this weekend, even with a victory by more than 15 points over one another.
England will increase their rating to 97.85 with victory by more than 15 points – the highest ever rating recorded in either the men’s or women’s rankings.
However, a first defeat against Canada since July 2016 could see England’s cushion at the top slashed from 7.06 rating points to as little as 2.84 points.
Australia can equal their highest-ever ranking of fifth if they beat Scotland in the battle of the unbeaten WXV 2 teams in Cape Town with a two-place climb possible, depending on Ireland’s result against USA on Friday.
A draw would still be enough for the Wallaroos to climb one place to sixth so long as Ireland fail to beat USA.
USA will become the higher ranked of the two teams if they beat Ireland in WXV 1, climbing one or two places depending on the outcome of the WXV 2 title decider.
Ireland could fall two places if they lose to USA.
However, Ireland can climb to fifth if they win and Scotland draw with Australia.
If Australia secure a narrow victory then Ireland must beat USA by more than 15 points.
