WORLD RANKINGS: Bok Women drop despite brave show

NEWS: South Africa Women have dropped one spot after their narrow 26-33 defeat to Australia Women on Saturday.

The Springbok Women traded places with Japan after Round Two of WXV.

Both teams were beaten in WXV 2, by Australia and Scotland, respectively, but the Sakura 15s’ rating of 66.89 points was untouched while Springbok Women had 0.34 points shaved off theirs, to leave them slightly behind the Asia champions on 66.73 points.

Australia, Italy and Spain did improve their rating in victory but the points gained were not enough for them to improve on seventh, ninth and 13th place.

Samoa’s record 45-17 win over Fiji in WXV 3 did have a big impact on the World Rankings.

Samoa easily beat their previous best margin of victory of 12 points in 18 years of playing test rugby against Fiji, and they are now the higher-ranked of the two teams following a two-place gain.

The commanding win at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai has sent them up to 15th, one place above Fiji, who started the weekend three places and 2.92 points better off.

Also on the slide are WXV newcomers, the Netherlands, whose 0-20 defeat to European rivals Spain cost them one place. The Dutch are now 17th heading into the final weekend of their debut WXV campaign.

There are no changes in the top 10.

England, meanwhile, extended their advantage over Canada at the top of the rankings by 0.06 to 7.06 points after they beat New Zealand 49-31 in Langley on Sunday.