Ireland Women jump up World Rugby ranking after Wallaroos rout

Ireland Women have jumped up two places in the World Rugby rankings following Saturday's 36-10 win over Australia.

Scott Bemand’s side move to seventh, overtaking Italy and USA, with the latter one of Ireland’s WXV1 opponents in Vancouver next month.

It’s the highest place that Ireland have reached since August 2022 and their previous best was fourth back in 2016.

Head coach Bemand will tomorrow name his squad to travel to Canada for Tests against world champions New Zealand, the hosts and the USA.

The Black Ferns, beaten 24-12 by England at the weekend, are second in the rankings, while Canada are third and the USA eighth.

Meanwhile, player of the match Aoife Wafer (above) says the squad are working extra hard at establishing connections on and off the pitch.

"Everybody has really wanted to learn fast," said the 21-year-old Leinster back row, who scored twice against the Wallaroos, including a brilliant effort following smart link-up play with Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.

"Everyone has been hungry to get on the pitch.

"We've all been putting our best foot forward. Leigh is my buddy outside the training paddock.

"We have questions that we ask each other and we had a special handshake. It just felt like we were very connected to go and finish that try.

"You'll have to watch back for the handshake.

"The questions were getting to know each other a bit better off field.

"If we can be really connected off-field, we can be connected on-field. We strive to be the most connected team in the world and we have to start off-field to do that."

Ireland's WXV1 fixtures:

Sunday, 29 September, New Zealand v Ireland, in BC Place (3am Irish time)

Saturday, 5 October, Canada v Ireland, in Langley Events Centre (11.45pm Irish time)

Friday, 11 October, USA v