IRL World Rankings: June 30, 2024

France is among the top four women’s nations for the first time, while England is closing in on New Zealand as the second placed men’s team ahead of next year’s Ashes series after the latest instalment of IRL World Rankings. 

The Kangaroos and Jillaroos remain No.1 in the men’s and women’s rankings up to June 30, but the Pacific Championships and England men’s upcoming series against Samoa are set to have a significant impact on the World Rankings at the end of 2024.  

England regained third place from Samoa on the back of last year’s 3-0 series win against Tonga and have edged closer to the Kiwis after their 40-8 victory against France in Toulouse on June 29. 

However, with England and Samoa, whose extra time win in the semi-final of the IRL World Cup in 2022 stunned the host nation, scheduled to meet at Wigan and Leeds later this year, the results of the series are likely to have a bearing on the rankings. 

If England triumph, then next year’s Ashes series in Australia could have significance for the World Rankings heading into the 2026 World Cup.

However, the Kiwis will also be eying top spot after winning last year’s Pacific Championships with a record 30-0 defeat of Australia in the final and will be aiming to repeat the feat at the end of the season under new coach Stacey Jones.   

While there has been little movement of note in the men’s or wheelchair rankings, there has been much more activity in the women’s rankings following games in Africa and Europe. 

After qualifying for RLWC2026, France have leapfrogged PNG into fourth place and Wales has usurped Canada for fifth spot, while Greece, Serbia and Netherlands have also climbed the rankings ladder. 

Kenya (23rd to19th) and Uganda (26th to 22nd) have also moved up in rankings places after winning one match apiece against each other in May –18-16 to Kenya and 13-12 to Uganda. 

Nigeria have also advanced from 24th to 21st after beating 25th ranked Ghana 30-20 in January. 

IRL Chair Troy Grant said: “The closeness of the rankings reflects the competitiveness we are now seeing at international level. Changes made to the structure of the IRL World Cup and the introduction of the World Series in 2025 means that every international fixture is a meaningful contest.

"Nations that play more regularly will also be rewarded. It is particularly pleasing to see so many women’s international fixtures and the growth in the number of nations playing.

"We will no doubt see greater movement in the IRL World Rankings at the end of the year when more nations are in action during the International Window at the end of the NRL and Super League seasons.”     

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. 

·                More recent games are weighted higher than older games and only games since the 2017 World Cup are considered. 

·                The rankings reward teams who are active and win games. 

MEN 

While England are still third, behind Australia and New Zealand, they now have a rankings index of 80% compared to 82% for the Kiwis. 

Samoa remain fourth and Tonga fifth but Fiji has leapfrogged PNG into the sixth place by the slimmest of margins. 

Previously the Kumuls were a few decimal points ahead in the ratings index but that has now reversed with the Bati’s rating being 46.53% to 46.34% for PNG. 

The key to the change is a mid-year Pacific Cup game on June 25, 2022, in which the Kumuls beat Fiji 24-14. As the match was more than two years ago, it has less weighting, so Fiji are now very slightly ahead. 

WOMEN 

France and PNG have swapped places, as have Wales and Canada, Greece and Ireland, and Serbia and Brazil on the back of European RLWC26 qualifying matches. 

Netherlands, who beat Italy before losing to Ireland and Wales, are up from 18th to 13th – due to their results and the fact they had only played one previous match. 

With the upward movement of European and African nations, Fetu Samoa (20th to 24th) and Fiji Bulikula (21st to 26th) have fallen as their clash in last October’s Pacific Championships was the first time Samoa had played since 2020 and Fiji since 2019. 

As a result, Samoa and Fiji didn’t yield many ranking points in the Pacific Championships because both nations had very low rankings. 

However, it is likely that Pacific nations will move up the rankings quite quickly once they start playing more regular matches due to playing higher ranked opponents and because of the small margins at the bottom of the women’s rankings. 

Fiji and Samoa will play Asia-Pacific RLWC26 qualifying matches at the end of the year, along with Cook Islands and Tonga. 

WHEELCHAIR 

 
Ireland have moved to fourth place behind England, France and Australia after winning the wheelchair Celtic Cup in Galway. 

Ireland have leapfrogged Wales, who are fifth, with Scotland sixth and USA seventh – jumping Spain – after hosting a two-match series against Wales in February.