Tuesday 4 December 2018

World Ranking : 2016-18

Each year there is the nerve racking moment when the end of year RL International Rankings is released. National bodies scurry to their devices to see how they have fared, with sounds of glee or moans of despair heard around the world.

Well, maybe I have overstated the situation somewhat. In fact, most will know what the likely outcome anyway. The criteria for success or failure is based on two things, how many internationals the country was involved with and how well they performed.

Because of that, the list isn't always reflective of where a team would be placed according to the national team's true value. For instance, Belgium, Denmark and the Cook Islands aren't doing much so they all suffered accordingly. On the other hand, Niue, the Solomon Islands and Hungary were much more involved and were rewarded accordingly.

So that is a major point of the rankings. It doesn't just reward results but also those countries that push for more games. In a sport where the major players have always viewed the international game as a distraction, rewarding those that see promote it is a way of changing that inward looking perspective.

Many new nations were introduced in both 2016 and 2017, with two new ones in 2018. Morocco, which was listed although effectively banned has finally been removed for this year, along with Thailand as it sorts out governance issues. The two new ones were Poland and Turkey, in the case of Poland I'm surprised how they arrived at 23rd. Movement at the top is rare so to see NZ take the lead in 2015, lose it a year later and now fall to third is unusually action packed.

This year has seen the introduction of points for the public to see. It provides a more transparent system and lets us see how close nations are to each other. The list below is colour coded according to the region.


Rankings 2016
Rankings 2017
Rankings 2018
1 Australia +1 1 Australia - 1 Australia 100 -
2 New Zealand -1 2 New Zealand - 2 England 92 +1
3 England - 3 England - 3 New Zealand 89 -1
4 Scotland +5 4 Tonga +10 4 Tonga 45 -
5 Samoa -1 5 Fiji +2 5 Fiji 29 -
6 France -1 6 Samoa -1 6 France 26 +2
7 Fiji - 7 Scotland -3 7 Samoa 24 -1
8 Ireland -2 8 France -2 8 Scotland 20 -1
9 Wales -1 9 Lebanon +12 9 Lebanon 19 -
10 USA - 10 PNG +5 10 PNG 16 -
11 Serbia - 11 Ireland -3 11 Wales 11 +1
12 Canada +1 12 Wales -3 12 Ireland 11 -1
13 Italy -1 13 Italy - 13 Italy 8 -
14 Tonga +2 14 USA -4 14 Jamaica 6 +1
15 PNG -1 15 Jamaica +2 15 USA 6 -1
16 Russia -1 16 Serbia -5 16 Malta 6 +2
17 Jamaica +10 17 Canada -5 17 Serbia 6 -1
18 Belgium -1 18 Malta +2 18 Hungary 6 +11
19 Spain +2 19 Russia -3 19 Greece 5 +4
20 Malta -2 20 Belgium -2 20 Norway 5 +2
21 Lebanon -1 21 Spain -2 21 Canada 4 -4
22 Ukraine +1 22 Norway +4 22 Philippines 4 +2
23 Germany -4 23 Greece +5 23 Poland 3 New
24 Czech Rep +6 24 Philippines +9 24 Niue 3 +9
25 Cook Is -3 25 Ukraine -3 25 Czech Rep 3 +1
26 Norway - 26 Czech Rep -2 26 Netherlands 3 +1
27 Denmark -2 27 Netherlands +3 27 Solomon Is 3 +15
28 Greece -4 28 Germany -5 28 Spain 2 -7
29 Sweden - 29 Hungary +9 29 Russia 2 -10
30 Netherlands -2 30 Cook Is -5 30 Germany 2 -2
31 South Africa - 31 Sweden -2 31 Turkey 2 New
32 Niue - 32 Chile +2 32 Chile 2 -
33 Philippines New 33 Niue -1 33 Vanuatu 2 +3
34 Chile New 34 Denmark -7 34 Japan 2 +7
35 Vanuatu New 35 South Africa -4 35 Ukraine 2 -10
36 Latvia -2 36 Vanuatu -1 36 El Salvador 1 +1
37 Solomon Is New 37 El Salvador +2 37 South Africa 2 -2
38 Hungary -5 38 Thailand New 38 Sweden 1 -7
39 El Salvador New 39 Argentina New 39 Belgium 1 -19
40 Morocco -5 40 Colombia New 40 Hong Kong 1 +5




41 Japan New 41 Colombia 1 -1




42 Solomon Is -4 42 Argentina 1 -3




43 Brazil New 43 Cook Is 1 -13




44 Uruguay New 44 Denmark 1 -10




45 Hong Kong New 45 Brazil 1 -2




46 Bulgaria New 46 Uruguay 0 -2




47 Latvia -11 47 Bulgaria 0 -1




48 Morocco -8 48 Latvia 0 -1

No comments: