World Rugby has published the ranking permutations for the final WXV 2024 warm-up matches on two continents and the Rugby Europe Women's Conference 2024-25 opener in Romania this week.
Permutation highlights
Australia could plummet three places to ninth if they lose by more than 15 points against Wales in Newport.
A win by a smaller margin would still be enough to lift Wales above Italy into ninth with Australia remaining sixth.
Victory for Australia will see them regain the fifth place they lost to Scotland following last weekend’s 36-10 loss to Ireland.
Fiji will slip below Russia into 15th if beaten by the Netherlands, who must win by more than 15 points if they are to become the higher-ranked of the two nations.
Fiji cannot improve on 14th place even if they win by more than 15 points and the match involving South Africa and Spain results in a win by a similar margin for one side.
Fiji will be 0.41 points away from a new high of 13th if Spain win by that margin.
The Dutch will drop two places to 18th – below Hong Kong China and Samoa – if beaten.
A win for the Netherlands, though, could see them climb a place to 15th and become the higher-ranked of the two nations if the victory margin is more than 15 points.
A draw will see Spain and South Africa swap places with Las Leonas taking over 12th.
Kenya can only improve their rating by a maximum of 0.74 points with victory over Madagascar, which isn’t enough to improve on 23rd place.
However, Madagascar will become the higher-ranked of the two nations in victory, swapping places with Kenya to climb to a new high of 23rd.
Romania will jump at least two places to 42nd if their first Test for 16 years against Bulgaria ends in victory with 40th possible if the margin is more than 15 points.
Bulgaria will slip two places to 51st in defeat.
A draw will see Romania drop at least four places with any margin of victory seeing Bulgaria become the higher-ranked of the two nations.
A first Test victory will see Bulgaria jump at least seven places with an 11-place gain to 38th possible if the margin is more than 15 points – a scenario that would see Romania plummet 12 places to 52nd.
Match officials
Zoe Naude (South Africa) will make her Test debut in the middle when she takes charge of South Africa v Spain in her home city of Cape Town.
Sara Cox (England) will referee her 40th Test with Wales v Australia in Newport, the second woman to reach the milestone after Aimee Barrett-Theron last weekend. She referees this fixture for the second time, having overseen Australia's 13-7 victory at Women's Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.
Mélissa Leboeuf (France) will referee Fiji for the first time when they take on the Netherlands in Amsterdam. The Dutch are yet to win with Leboeuf in charge, having suffered two losses to Spain.
Precious Pazani (Zimbabwe) takes charge of Kenya v Madagascar for the second time, having been in the middle for the Lionesses 29-20 victory in the Rugby Africa Women's Cup 2023. Madagascar are yet to win with the Zimbabwean as referee.
Comments