Uganda Lady Rugby Cranes were the biggest climbers globally in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings after the conclusion of the July 17-18 international test matches.
The Lady Rugby Cranes dispatched Zimbabwe, 34-03, to climb eight places from 39th to 31st on the World Rugby Rankings. They currently have 40.94 points according to the World Rugby Points Exchange system.
Uganda and Zimbabwe played two test matches against each other under the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup 2021 bracket in Kampala, Uganda. Kenya and Madagascar had an identical tournament in Nairobi, Kenya but there were no trophies or standings awarded at the end.
On the other hand, following a shock 22-16 defeat against Algeria, the Uganda Rugby Cranes fell 10 places from 41st to 51st in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings.
How the World Rugby Rankings system works:
- Both Men’s and Women’s World Rugby Rankings are calculated using a ‘Points Exchange’ system, in which sides take points off each other based on the match result. Whatever one side gains, the other loses.
- The exchanges are based on the match result, the relative strength of each team, and the margin of victory. There is an allowance for home advantage which effectively ‘handicaps’ the home team as they will pick up few points for winning and give away more points for losing.
- For each match, there are only five possible outcomes that can affect points exchanges: either side winning by more than 15 points, either side winning by up to 15 points, or a draw.
- Points exchanges are doubled during the Rugby World Cup Finals event to recognise its unique importance. All other full international matches are treated the same, to be as fair as possible to countries playing a different mix of friendly and competitive matches across the world.
Source: World Rugby