USA Women's Eagles win fifth straight in 20 years to reclaim sixth in World Rugby rankings

The USA Women’s Eagles reclaimed sixth place in the World Rugby rankings after routing Italy 54-24 at Geodis Park in Nashville on Saturday, their fifth consecutive victory — a streak the programme had not achieved in 20 years.

The result came on the penultimate weekend of the WXV Global Series and reversed a rankings slip from the previous week, when the Australian Wallaroos had overtaken the Eagles to claim sixth. Australia’s position was not secured this time around: the Wallaroos beat Scotland 38-31 in Canberra despite accumulating a string of yellow cards and losing retiring player Cecilia Smith to a red card.

Ireland also held their ground, staying fifth after a 40-27 win over the Springbok Women at Athlone Stadium. Had both Australia and the USA won, Ireland’s fifth-place ranking would have come under threat. Despite the defeat, South Africa achieved a long-held ambition of breaking into the top 10, moving to ninth in the rankings. Scotland dropped to 10th as a result.

In Tokyo, Wales secured a 17-0 win over Japan in weather-affected conditions, with two tries from Seren Lockwood and one from Kelsey Jones giving Sean Lynn’s side the victory. Japan fell to 13th in the rankings — a position it had been confirmed before the weekend would go to whichever team lost the fixture.

Further down the table, Colombia made the biggest move of the weekend, climbing four places to 27th after a 28-19 win over Chile in Santiago. Chile dropped sharply from 28th to 32nd.

The WXV Global Series concludes this weekend, with the Eagles facing an England Red Roses side that has now lost two matches in a row. The Black Ferns host France in Christchurch, Wales face Japan again, and South Africa host Ireland in a rematch at Athlone Stadium.