Women’s 'Top 50' rugby players list revealed

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe in action (Image: RugbyPass)

With the start of the Women's Rugby World Cup imminent, a global panel of journalists from leading international rugby media business, RugbyPass, have revealed their list of the world's top 50 women rugby players.

Coming in at number one is New Zealand wing, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe. The panel said that she earned her place because, despite coming out of retirement earlier this year, she managed to return and not only excel for the Blues in Super Rugby Aupiki to help them win a historic double title, but also seamlessly slide back into a New Zealand starting spot, going on to break the all-time Black Ferns try scoring record.

Inclusion in the list was driven by players' performance over the last calendar year, and they had to have played international 15s in this period. Woodman-Wickliffe was one of three Kiwis to make the top-10, followed by France and England (Zoe Aldcroft at number three and Megan Jones at number six) with two players each.

To be recognised by RugbyPass this way, it really means a lot. I’m probably never going to come to terms with this at all! I’m extremely grateful for this award, even though I still feel like I’ve got a lot to learn as a player myself and to even get anywhere near these types of accolades is just amazing.

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, New Zealand

England had the largest number of players in the top-50 overall, with 13 members of the Red Roses making the cut. New Zealand was next with nine followed by Canada with seven and France with six.

Two ex-England stars called the list into question, however. Former Red Roses captain and 2014 World Cup winner, Katy Daley-Mclean MBE, suggested Ellie Kildunne was worthy of a much higher placement, saying that 'the world player of the year' deserved a top-10 slot.

Similarly, ex-England prop and 2021 World Cup Finalist, Shaunagh Brown, suggested her former teammate Zoe Aldcroft was worthy of the top spot on the basis of "the whole picture...I’ve seen the player she’s grown into, I know how physically tough she is, but also I’ve seen her develop as a captain, and I know how much extra time you have to put in off the pitch - but importantly this hasn’t taken anything away from her game, which being a captain sometimes can.”

Here's the RugyPass Top 10 in full: