Every year I look at the world rankings for RL. It is based on how many internationals are played, the ranking of the opponent and how recently they were played. Like any ranking system, it doesn't always reflect the present standard perfectly. If a country plays few internationals, then it will hurt its ranking and place it lower than it deserves. Even in Soccer, where internationals are given much significance, there is no shortage of anomalies in how nations are rated.
So with that understanding, are they worth much? I still feel they give a general picture and hopefully an incentive to take international matches seriously, not an attitude the sport of RL is imbued with. So surely Australia is top, considering its depth of talent. Err, no. Like I said you have to take international RL seriously to get a good ranking. Below there are two sides to the chart, one 2021 and the other a historical list going back to 2013.
It's colour coded by region. Yellow is Pacific and is the strongest region. Blue is Europe, salmon the Americas, green Africa/Middle East and orange Asia. The + and - signs in the 2021 column are based on a comparison with the 2019 ranking. I don't have a 2020 list and I don't think one was ever collated.
The women's and wheelchair rankings can be seen by clicking here.
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