Which country is the best at rugby?
Let's talk about gender equality. Which country performs just as well among women as it does among men?
Which country is the best at rugby? The answer changes when you include women
Ask who dominates the world of rugby, and you’ll hear “South Africa.” The Springboks do indeed sit atop the men’s World Rugby rankings (93.94 points). But that response tells only half the story. In women’s rugby, South Africa ranks only 10th (72.89 points). So, if we combine the two rankings, which country is truly the best in rugby?
The verdict: New Zealand
When averaging the men’s and women’s points, one country stands out: New Zealand. Ranked second among both men (91.04) and women (91.60), it is the only nation to score above 91 points in both rankings. Combined average: 91.32. No other nation shows such consistency.
This consistency is no statistical fluke: it is cultural. In a country of just over 5 million people, rugby is not just another sport—it is the national narrative. People grow up there with an oval ball in hand, from elementary schools to village clubs, and the haka—inherited from Māori culture—is passed down to children even before the rules of the game. Above all, this passion has never been reserved for men: the Black Ferns are celebrated as national icons on par with the All Blacks, whereas other nations have long treated their women’s teams as an afterthought. When an entire country views rugby as part of its identity rather than merely as entertainment, excellence ceases to be gendered.
Combined ranking (average of the two rankings)
| Rank | Nation | Women | Men | Average | Difference (W − M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Zealand | 91.60 | 91.04 | 91.32 | +0.56 |
| 2 | England | 98.09 | 83.91 | 91.00 | +14.18 |
| 3 | France | 84.59 | 86.74 | 85.67 | −2.15 |
| 4 | Ireland | 78.69 | 89.32 | 84.01 | −10.63 |
| 5 | South Africa | 72.89 | 93.94 | 83.42 | −21.05 |
England narrowly misses first place thanks to the Red Roses, who are the overwhelming world No. 1 with 98.09 points—the highest total across both rankings combined. But the men’s England team, ranked only 6th, drags down the average.
The last column measures the point difference between the women’s and men’s teams—and it’s a stark revelation. Of the nations represented in both top 16 rankings, only three have a positive difference: England (+14.18), the U.S. (+3.67), and New Zealand (+0.56). Everywhere else, the men dominate, sometimes by a wide margin: −21.05 for South Africa, −15.14 for Fiji, −11.45 for Wales, and −10.63 for Ireland.
There are two possible interpretations. England’s extreme gap (+14.18) reflects less a weakness in men’s rugby than an extraordinary dominance in women’s rugby—the Red Roses are in a league of their own. Conversely, the large negative deltas (South Africa, Fiji, Wales) point to federations where women’s rugby remains structurally underdeveloped. New Zealand’s near-zero figure (+0.56) is the true marker of a comprehensive rugby culture, with no hierarchy between the genders.
England, or the Bet on Professionalization
The Red Roses’ dominance didn’t come out of nowhere: it’s the result of a strategic choice made by the English Rugby Union (RFU). In 2019, England became the first nation to offer full-time professional contracts to its women’s national team players—while most of their opponents remained amateur or semi-professional, forced to balance training with employment. The RFU complemented this initiative with a structured domestic league, the Premiership Women’s Rugby (formerly Premier 15s), which serves as a constant source of talent for the national team.
The result is evident in the rankings: 98.09 points—a stratospheric total—and winning streaks that have crushed the competition for years. The +14.18 point differential is therefore no anomaly—it’s a snapshot of a structural advantage: the gap between players paid to train and rivals who, often, were not yet paid to do so. A model that France, New Zealand, and others have since worked to catch up to.
France: Balanced but Not at the Top
With a 4th-place finish in both the women’s and men’s events, France is remarkably consistent—ranking third overall. It lacks only one thing: a No. 1 ranking, on either side.
On the women’s side, this ceiling is primarily due to resources. Whereas the Red Roses have been living off rugby since 2019, the Bleues have long had only part-time federal contracts: most players still juggle their athletic careers with jobs or studies, resulting in inevitably reduced training time when facing full-time professional opponents.
The domestic league, Elite 1, also suffers from a very French handicap: geography. The historic heartland of women’s rugby remains scattered across the far southwest, a few strongholds in the southeast, and isolated clubs north of the Loire. The result: endless travel for non-professional players who spend their weekends traveling at their own expense in terms of time and energy; limited recruitment due to the impossibility of relocating for a club that does not pay salaries; and a wide variation in skill level from one division to another. Under these conditions, it’s difficult to build a league as competitive as England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby—and that’s precisely the gap that separates the world’s fourth-ranked team from the top spot.
South Africa: The Giant Looking to Get Back on Its Feet
The Springboks’ −21.05 point differential is the most severe in the group, but the South African rugby union has decided to tackle the issue. In August 2024, it announced the creation of a professional league, the Women’s Super League Rugby, with the goal of signing 150 players so they can devote themselves exclusively to rugby—with the federation covering the teams’ travel expenses. This is by no means a trivial decision: only two countries in the world have a professional women’s league—England and New Zealand. And the message from the record books is crystal clear: with the exception of the United States in 1991, these two nations have won every World Cup and faced each other five times in the final. The current gap is staggering: the South African amateur league has only eight teams, all divisions of men’s clubs, and only the Bulls Daisies franchise—three-time defending champions—pays its players a salary.
In the meantime, the women’s Springboks are drawing inspiration from the model that made the men’s team the kings of the world. Swys De Bruin’s coaching staff is replicating the men’s approach, starting with building a large pool of players centered around an experienced core that competed in the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand. Among them are the iconic captain Nolusindiso Booi, 40, the team’s all-time leader with 50 caps, and, most notably, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, the team’s top scorer. Having taken up rugby at just 16 years old and once tempted to quit after a difficult tour playing sevens, the Bulls Daisies player has become the face of this new generation of Bokkes—the one that must, in the long run, prove the gap wrong.
Conclusion
The best rugby nation is neither the one that lifts the trophy in men’s rugby nor the one that dominates in women’s rugby: it is the one that has never ceased to excel across the board. And in that regard, the All Blacks and the Black Ferns remain unrivaled. Their near-zero gender gap (+0.56) is no statistical coincidence: it is the product of a culture where rugby is a national identity that has never been gendered.
But this overview points to a broader lesson: today’s women’s rankings are almost exactly a reflection of yesterday’s investments. England was the first to pay its female players; it is now in first place. New Zealand has integrated its women into its national narrative; it is the most consistent. France, halfway through the transition to professionalization, has plateaued halfway to the top. And South Africa, which for a long time invested nothing, ranks 10th despite having the strongest rugby culture in the Southern Hemisphere. This gap is not a sporting inevitability—it is a budgetary indicator.
That’s also what makes the coming decade so exciting. With South Africa’s Women’s Super League, the rise of French federation contracts, and the competition spurred by England’s dominance, professionalization is shifting from being the exception to becoming the norm. The day all major nations pay their female players the same as their male players, the combined rankings will no longer measure budgets, but finally, talent. On that day, the question “Which is the best rugby nation?” will have an indisputable answer. Until then, the answer remains New Zealand.
Sources: World Rugby women’s and men’s rankings (official points) as of July 8, 2026