In the lead up to the autumn international programme – which will feature Rugby League 2013 World Cup Atlantic and European Qualifiers, the Gillette Four Nations tournament and a European International Test Series – the re-vamped Official World Rankings have been unveiled.
Calculated to a more accurate formula including the weighting of games, the live system will be updated on a monthly basis to take into account the increased level of current worldwide activity and can be found on www.rlif.com.
Australia head the 28-nation standings going into their fixture with New Zealand, the current World Cup and Four Nations holders, next Sunday 16th October, at Ausgrid Stadium Newcastle.
Announcing the new rankings, RLIF Chairman Scott Carter commented, “From today we can accurately reflect the relative position of each of the growing number of international Rugby League nations based upon their on-field performance.”
“Regular fixtures between nations are essential for the development and growth of the game globally. With more recognised international activity we expect that the Official World Rankings will provide not only a benchmark for the nations but also on-going interest for the fans.”
The Official Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) World Rankings are calculated on each nation’s performance over the current season and the four preceding ones. Points are awarded to each team for each match based on:
- The result
- The margin
- The relative strength of opposition faced
- The date of the match – more recent matches are weighted more heavily
- The importance of the match e.g. a World Cup match is given greater weighting than a stand-alone international.
The points are then used to create the Official World Rankings by ordering the teams by virtue of the points gained over the five season period.
Only matches played at senior level between two approved members are considered as part of the rankings.
The World Rankings are automatically updated on the first day of every month. If that falls in the middle of an international series, the update will occur immediately following the series.
CURRENT WORLD RANKINGS
Rank Nation Points
1 Australia 1,244.77
2 New Zealand 1,062.30
3 England 682.19
4 PNG 341.29
5 France 250.03
6 Samoa 159.50
7 Wales 149.17
8 Fiji 145.85
9 Tonga 129.01
10 Scotland 91.01
11 Ireland 72.81
12 Cook Islands 62.11
13 USA 56.76
14 Italy 44.52
15 Lebanon 43.56
16 Serbia 38.53
17 Germany 38.35
18 Russia 30.62
19 Norway 29.64
20 Latvia 23.67
22 Malta 19.86
23 Czech Republic 16.03
24 Ukraine 15.76
25 Canada 14.36
26 South Africa 14.22
27 Jamaica 13.78
28 Sweden 3.90
Unranked - Alphabetical Order
Denmark
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Japan
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Morocco
Netherlands
Pakistan
Palestine
Philippines
Singapore