Ireland Women On The Rise In World Rankings
Ireland captain Nichola Fryday beats Italy's Giordana Duca to a lineout ball at Musgrave Park ©INPHO/Ben Brady
In the only change to the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini, Ireland have replaced Italy in seventh place after beating the Azzurre 29-8 in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations on Sunday.
With 1.31 rating points riding on the outcome at Musgrave Park, Greg McWilliams’ charges now find themselves as the higher-ranked of the two teams.
Ireland started the day one place below Italy but the five-try vin has boosted their score to 76.00 points, while Italy’s has been cut to 75.12 – leaving them in eighth place.
Giving his reaction to his first victory as Ireland head coach, McWilliams said: “It’s a good feeling. As I said before the game, we’ve got a group of players that work exceptionally hard and it is good to get rewards for that.
“There’s more to come. There were parts of the performance I still think that we need to improve. But to be able to firstly get a win and then the bonus point, it means a lot for momentum for this group of players.
“I think everybody needed the win. Results will happen as a result of our performance. We concentrate on our performance and our process and try and get that right.
“There were elements I was really happy about today. They were really smart at half-time, the players were contributing to our plan for the second half and I thought they executed that pretty well.
“So, without playing terrific rugby they controlled the ball well and managed, thank God, to score some tries. It was important, it was good to get the win.”
England, the next opponents for Ireland on Sunday, April 24, still hold a commanding 7.68-point lead at the top of the rankings over New Zealand after making it three wins from three with a 58-5 triumph over Wales.