Serbia have climbed five places to be ranked 10th in the men’s IRL World Rankings following back to back wins over Greece and Italy in May with France women and Wales Wheelchair also being Europe’s climbers. France have climbed to fourth, following their demolition of Serbia, whilst Wales’ Celtic Cup Wheelchair victory sees them leapfrog Australia.
Elsewhere, Italy women have also moved up from 14th place to 13th after beating Serbia 34-14 in June.
Although there was limited international action in the six months up to June 30 following the World Cup at the end of last year, the results of the rankings are significant for future funding and on-field ambitions of the nations who have played, with the Serbian Rugby League Federation receiving increased government support after their last upward movement in the World Rankings.
The IRL World Rankings are determined by the following criteria:
- Teams are awarded ranking points each time they play a sanctioned international fixture;
- Result and margin: The bigger the win, the more points the winning team receives and the fewer points are awarded to the loser;
- Strength of opponent: The higher the ranking of the opponent the greater the weighting of the result.
- Importance of the match: Games in official competition are weighted higher than bi-lateral arranged games. Rugby League World Cup games carry the greatest weighting, and;
- More recent games are weighted higher than older games.
- The rankings reward teams who are active and win games.
MEN
World Cup winners Australia have maintained their No.1 ranking, followed by New Zealand, RLWC2021 runners-up Samoa and England, who have closed the gap between third and fourth place after their 64-0 defeat of France in April.
Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Lebanon and France are next, followed by Serbia, who have yet to qualify for a World Cup but are now in 10th spot – pushing Wales (11th), Ireland (12th), Cook Islands (13th), Italy (14th) and Jamaica (15th) back a place.
Serbia have been one of the most active nations in international rugby league in recent years and rose to eighth place in the IRL World Rankings 12 months ago after winning the 2022 European Championships B.
The involvement of other nations at the World Cup pushed Serbia back to 15th place but they have quickly climbed back to 10th spot after beating Greece 40-6 and Italy 52-4 in May.
Serbian RLF national teams head coach Darren Fisher said the success at international level was also inspiring the growth of the game domestically.
“It’s been a great year for us as we work towards being consistent in our domestic development,” Fisher said. “The men’s team have had some great results so far and look to fill a couple more fixtures this year against Czech Republic and the Netherlands.”
“For Serbia, achieving success in the World Rankings helps us with domestic growth and the domestic competition continues to attract good players often lost to other sports. We have a fantastic domestic competition plus the running of the Balkans league, and that’s been created off the success of our national team’s progress.”
“We are very proud of our achievements and to reach the top 10 again for the second time in just a couple of years shows our commitment to the world of rugby league.”
WOMEN
Philippines only played their first sanctioned women’s international last October but immediately proved competitive, going down 6-0 to Malta.
Without the services of NRLW stars Renee Targett and Jasmine Peters, the Sampaguitas stunned Greece 38-0 earlier this year and PNRL president Reynaldo Nery said the Philippines were targeting an historic World Cup berth in 2029.
“This is a wonderful achievement not just for the PNRL but for Philippines female rugby league development,” Nery said. “It’s important we keep progressing our women’s national team which has only been two-to-three years in the making. Keeping this team active and playing competitive internationals means improved World Rankings and hopefully representing the Philippines in a Rugby League World Cup in the near future.”
“This achievement will certainly become a focal point for our pursuit of government funding, recruitment drive and female junior pathways, and with our junior development programme soon to kick off in Manila we anticipate a healthy turnout of domestic female participants.
The Jillaroos, Kiwis Ferns and England remain the top three nations, but France is now fourth after beating Serbia 116-0 in April. Italy also beat Serbia 34-14 in June.
England is closing the gap on New Zealand after defeating France 64-0 in both men’s and women’s internationals at Warrington on April 29.
With Philippines and Italy both rising up the rankings, Turkey has dropped from 13th to 15th.
WHEELCHAIR
Wales have regained third place from Australia after winning their eighth successive Celtic Cup in Edinburgh in May.
Both nations were semi-finalists at the World Cup, with Wales losing to winners England and runners-up France defeating the Wheelaroos.
Under new coach Alan Caron, who played for Wales at last year’s World Cup, the defending Celtic Cup champions drew with Ireland and beat Scotland to win the tournament on for-and-against.
WRL Head of Wheelchair Rugby League, Stephen Jones, said the return to third place would provide a boost for the sport in Wales.
“Its fantastic news that we have again moved to the number three spot in the World Rankings,” Jones said. “It goes to show that all the hard work that not only the players do on the pitch, but all the work that goes on behind the scenes, does pay off. It also helps us show that the Wheelchair version of our sport is worth sponsors and partners investing in, here in Wales.
“This year, the uncertainty around the European tournament has put the national team in a holding pattern, but with the development of the Wheelchair League that starts next month, we are definitely moving in the right direction.
“This will give us a great starting point to develop at grass roots level in Wales and help us with our ambition on the continuing growth and upwards movement in the IRL world rankings over the next few years.”