Portugal are up to 24th place in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini after completing a clean sweep of wins in the Rugby Europe Women’s Trophy 2022-23.

Earlier bonus-point wins against Belgium, Finland and Czechia meant Os Lobas were already confirmed as champions going into Saturday’s game against Germany in Hürth.

But they had to fight all the way to round off their campaign with a 100 per cent record, with all of their points in a 20-5 win coming in the second half.

Second-row Ana Freire scored twice as Portugal finally found their fluency after the break, while winger Matilde Goes and number eight Sara Moreira ensured Portugal picked up their fourth consecutive bonus-point win.

With Germany the higher-ranked of the two teams, the victory was worth two full rating points to Portugal who climb five places in the rankings above Cameroon, Madagascar, Belgium, Colombia and Kenya.

Germany’s second defeat of the Rugby Europe Women’s Trophy 2022-23 left them in third place in the standings.

However, they retain 21st place in the rankings as even with a reduced rating of 50.42, they are still 1.11 points better off than China.

England and France dominate

In the TikTok Women’s Six Nations 2023 wins for England, France and Italy did not lead to any positional changes.

The rampant Red Roses ran in nine tries in a 59-3 win against Wales in front of a record Cardiff crowd of 8,862 and remain firmly at the top of both the rankings and the Women’s Six Nations standings.

France also have three wins from three after they too scored nine tries in a 55-0 win against Scotland in Vannes,

Like England, Les Bleues’ rating did not change as a result of the victory, which included a hat-trick for Emilie Boulard, and they stay in third place in the rankings but move up to second in the Women’s Six Nations standings.

The other game of the weekend was a closer affair with Italy defeating Ireland 24-7 in Parma.

A second-half brace from Alyssa D'Inca settled the game in Italy’s favour and handed new head coach Giovanni Raineri his first win in charge of the team.

It led to the Azzurre’s rating marginally increasing to 78.69 points, but Canada still hold a significant cushion above them and the Azzurre have to be content with fifth place.

Photo credit: Alexander Kaiser