Ranking the cup contenders: How the Black Ferns stack up
New Zealand hosting the women’s Rugby World Cup for the first time gets under way with an Eden Park triple-header on Saturday.
The Black Ferns start their defence of their world title against Australia but England, the winners in 2014, are big favourites for a second title ahead of France and hosts New Zealand.
Sunday News has ranked the tournament’s 12 teams who will compete in matches in Auckland and Whangā rei.
Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Wales, Scotland
Pool B: Canada, United States, Italy, Japan
Pool C: England, France, South Africa, Fiji
12: South Africa (world ranking – WR – 11)
South Africa are playing at their first women’s World Cup since 2014 and progressing from a difficult pool including England and France is highly unlikely.
11: Japan (WR 13)
Japan started the season with wins over Fiji (28-14) and Australia (12-10) – the latter was a big scalp – after losing to Wales (23-5), Scotland (36-12) and Ireland (15-12) on their northern tour last November.
Their recent form has been mixed, with a win and a loss against both South Africa and Ireland.
10: Fiji (WR 21)
Fijiana are contesting their first women’s World Cup and could be a dangerous team if they can unlock the talented players who led the Fijiana Drua to the Australian Super Rugby title.
They lost tests to Japan (28-14) and Australia (36-19) to start the season, but pushed Canada all the way last Friday night, falling 24-7 in Suva.
9: Scotland (WR 10)
Scotland were the last qualifier after thrashing Colombia 59-3 in February, but have lost all six tests since and finished bottom of this year’s Six Nations without a win.
8: Wales (WR 9)
Wales will be targeting the knockout stages after coming third in the Six Nations when they beat Ireland and Scotland, improving on last year’s winless campaign.
7: Italy (WR 5)
Italy are one of the fastest improving teams in the women’s game and achieved a notable upset win (26-19) over France last
month in Biella, bouncing back from a 21-0 loss to the French the previous week in Nice.
They were fifth in the Six Nations but matched Wales (third) and Ireland (fourth) with two wins.
6: Australia (WR 7)
The Wallaroos face a familiar foe, the Black Ferns, in their opening match at Eden Park after never beating their transTasman rivals in 22 tests since their first meeting in 1994.
They won only once in seven tests, against Fiji, before a shock home defeat to Japan, three losses to the Black Ferns, and one each against the United States and Canada.
5: United States (WR 6)
The first winners of the women’s World Cup in 1991, the United States will be eyeing a fifth semifinal appearance after playing at all eight tournaments before New Zealand.
However, they have struggled since losing 45-12 to the Black Ferns in the 2017 semifinals.
4: Canada (WR 3)
Anything less than a semifinal appearance would be viewed as a disappointment.
After the big three, Canada are the most fancied outsider and were in the contest for an hour when they played the Black Ferns in Auckland in June, but they faded and lost 28-0.
3: New Zealand (WR 2)
The Black Ferns are the reigning, five-time world champions and will have unprecedented home support .
After slumping to their four heaviest defeats in history against England and France on last year’s northern tour, they have bounced back with Wayne Smith as coach to win six on the bounce this season, beating Australia three times, as well as Canada, the United States and Japan.
2: France (WR 4)
France are ahead of the Black Ferns because they have beaten the world champions in their last four meetings since 2018, including two huge wins (38-13 and 29-7) last November.
Crucially, the French have been playing regular, highquality clashes with England in the Six Nations and have pushed the World Cup favourites to the brink, albeit without beating them since 2018.
1: England (WR 1)
England are the warmest of favourites to win their second World Cup after first lifting the trophy at the 2014 tournament.
The Red Rose have lost only twice – to France in 2018 and the Black Ferns in 2019 – since they were beaten by New Zealand in the 2017 World Cup. With 25 successive wins heading into their opening match against Fiji, Simon Middleton’s team are the ones to beat.