women
international women
The Wallaroos jumped two places in the world rugby rankings thanks to a 30-10 win over Scotland in Edinburgh.
Led by Director of Women’s High Performance Tim Walsh during the WXV Global Series, alongside a number of interim coaches ahead of Siona Fukofuka’s arrival as head coach in January, the side played their second Test of the year against the Scots at the Hive Stadium.
It was a historic afternoon for the women in gold. Michaela Leonard became the first player to earn 50 caps for the Wallaroos, while Desiree Miller’s try saw her become the first player to score 100 test points for the team.
With their victory, which was inspired by the performance of the player Faitala Moleka, the team moved from ninth in the world ranking to seventh place.
“I’m really pleased to finish what has been a really tough campaign for us,” said Wallaroos assistant coach Michael Ruthven.
“The girls have certainly improved in our performance week on week so it’s a really nice way to finish.
“We certainly had to work hard for it, but I thought the girls really stepped up in the second half and managed to score a couple of tries.”
This result saw their opponents from the weekend, Scotland, move up to ninth and Italy – who lost to South Africa on Saturday afternoon – falls on eight.
Australia they weren’t the only side to move up the rankings.
Defeat for Wales against USA The Women’s Eagles in Cardiff – as Freda Tafuna scored a hat-trick at the Arms Park – and Japan’s seven-point defeat of Ireland in Galway saw the Sakura Fifteen replace Wales in 11th place.
Samoa won 34-17 Hong Kong China in their final WXV Global Series The 2026 Challenger match saw the Pacific Islanders jump two places in the world rugby rankings to 15th. The The Netherlands have fallen to 16. and Hong Kong China until 17
