World Rankings released

[Moedogg]

[h=1]World Rankings released[/h]The new World Rankings, issued by the Rugby League International Federation, have set up the 2016 international season perfectly.
The Four Nations tournament, to be played in the UK next autumn, will offer England, Australia and New Zealand the opportunity of going in to the 2017 World Cup as the number one ranked nation, a position currently held by the Kiwis.
Among the big movers are two nations who will compete in the 2016 World Cup Qualifiers – Europe; Spain who go up five places to 21 and the winners of European Championship B in 2015, Serbia, who now sit just outside the top ten.
"Serbia's end of the year ranking tells a story of the seasons behind us," said SRL vice-president Nebojša Sretenović. "Our squads in 2015 have been almost exclusively drawn from our domestic competition and I congratulate our players and the coaching staff for their results against countries that played in the last World Cup.
"The ranking gives us much motivation going into next year which will be our most important to date."
Wales move up one place after winning the 2015 European Championship, as do Ireland, while Scandinavian nations Sweden and Denmark both move up two places.
Jamaica also go up two places to 27th after excellent performances in the recent World Cup Qualifiers – Americas, when they narrowly lost to the USA and drew with Canada, who are much higher ranked. The USA stay in 10th place after their recent qualification for RLWC2017.
"We are happy with our performances against the world number 10 and 13 ranked teams in the qualifiers," said JRL director of rugby Romeo Monteith. "We need an America's cup to move the sport forward in our region and all the nations, along with the RLIF, are working hard to provide a clear international calendar here."
The other big movers in the rankings are Malta, who also move up five places.
Full Rankings below and to keep up to date with the 2017 world cup visit www.rlwc2017.com
1 (1) New Zealand
2 (2) Australia
3 (3) England
4 (4) Samoa
5 (5) France
6 (7) Ireland
7 (6) Fiji
8 (9) Wales
9 (8) Scotland
10 (10) USA
11 (14) Serbia
12 (12) Italy
13 (13) Canada
14 (11) PNG
15 (16) Russia
16 (15) Tonga
17 (18) Belgium
18 (23) Malta
19 (19) Germany
20 (20) Lebanon
21 (26) Spain
22 (17) Cook Islands
23 (22) Ukraine
24 (24) Greece
25 (27) Denmark
26 (21) Norway
27 (29) Jamaica
28 (25) Netherlands
29 (31) Sweden
30 (30) Czech Republic
31 (28) South Africa
32 (32) Niue
33 (33) Hungary
34 (34) Latvia
35 (35) Morocco

http://m.nrl.com/world-rankings-released/tabid/10874/newsid/91244/default.aspx

USA, Serbia, Italy, Canada ranked higher than PNG and Tonga lol! Didnt even know they played league there....this whole thing is a farce and doesn't reflect the strength of their domestic comps.

 

[blah]

Surely Lebanon better than Belgium

 

[Nate DAWG]

Cookies have NRL players, I think they would put a massive score on Belgium. Tongas ranking is also dodgey, they would smash heaps of teams above them. Who puts out this rubbish and what useless formula so they use

 

[Vlasnik]

The Official Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) World Rankings are calculated on each nation’s performance over the current season and the four preceding seasons. Points are awarded to each team for each match based on:

The result of the match i.e. win, lose or draw

The margin of victory (or defeat)

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 standalone 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.

http://www.rlif.com/rankings

 

[Moedogg]

The rankings of some of those European teams are exaggerated because they dont play against the much stronger teams in the southern hemisphere.

 

[ASSASSIN]

What a load of shit.

 

[Ahecee]

Cool, that list makes it look like all those countries actually play Rugby League........ a top 30 seems a little ambitious when there is only a handful of countries that actually play the game.

The NFL seems happy enough calling the super bowl winner the world champions despite the fact nobody else plays it, maybe just go with that model and stop trying to compete with Rugby that is actually played elsewhere.

Niue is #32........ I googled it, the population there is 1,190 people........... clearly this game is huge in the lower ranked Hungary, Latvia, and Morocco, and they dream of passing Niue. South Africa are joined in the national desire to not slip another place and fall bellow them.

 

[Ahecee]

Reality check.

1 (1) New Zealand
2 (2) Australia
3 (3) England
4 (4) Samoa
5 (5) France
6 (7) Ireland
7 (6) Fiji
8 (9) Wales
9 (8) Scotland
10 (10) USA

NZ, Aus, England - sure.

4th - Samoa - they would be stronger if their pinnacle for elite players wasn't playing for NZ.
5th - France - yep, they play it, if your French, play Rugby League and are really good...... a Rugby team will probably sign you.
6th - Ireland - yep, they play it too.... they also play some weird hybrid game against the AFL..... they actually play Rugby, but again, play rugby league, be really good and a Rugby team will sign you.
7th - Fiji - for sure they play the game, NRL should give them a team really, haven't yet, so.... NZ for them too if your real good.
8th and 9th - Scotland and Wales - putting them together to save time.... same deal, play the game and be good, then play Rugby.
10th - USA - well, USA is USA, sure, they would be there, seen a few games from them, plenty of good athletes, but they are not actually good at the game, much like their Rugby team (case in point, Carlin Isles...... the cocky player who goes good for their Rugby sevens team, which would make sense if he was actually proven at any main competition or had actually ever won something...... looks to be the mirror version of Hayne.... if Hayne as a dick)

Couldn't be bothered with the rest....... yes, they have a team....... they would probably be pretty good...... if they actually played the game really in their country.

 

[Moedogg]

Tbh only 6 countries have thriving domestic comps, the rest are just made up of Aus, NZers playing in a different jersey.

Australia
England
NZ
PNG
France
Wales

 

[Phalangist]

So Lebanon qualify for the World Cup and to qualify means,not only do you win games but you become the top 14 or 16 nations competing for the number one spot. Then we have a look at the rankings and teams like Malta, Serbia, Canada, and Belgium are higher?

I swear once these stupid origin rules get dropped and one day they will other teams will become so much more competitive....

Now all we see is the Aussies with so much depth...

 

[Phalangist]

Tbh only 6 countries have thriving domestic comps, the rest are just made up of Aus, NZers playing in a different jersey.

Australia
England
NZ
PNG
France
Wales

No mate Lebanon have actually had a decent domestic comp for years now..
Standard might not be to high but they do have a domestic comp

 

[marsh43]

Reality check.

1 (1) New Zealand
2 (2) Australia
3 (3) England
4 (4) Samoa
5 (5) France
6 (7) Ireland
7 (6) Fiji
8 (9) Wales
9 (8) Scotland
10 (10) USA

NZ, Aus, England - sure.

4th - Samoa - they would be stronger if their pinnacle for elite players wasn't playing for NZ.

Pretty sure there are 2 Samoans in the kiwis team but could be missing some - Matulino (NZ Born) and RTS (Born in Samoa)

Aussie are just as bad when it comes to poaching players and not letting them play for the smaller countries - Papali'i, Milford (QLD) Samoa, Jennings - Tonga. Hayne played for Fiji till Aussie decided he was Aussie after 09 season. Tamou! Zzz he's a d*ckhead anyway lol.

Bottom line, dont blame just the kiwis, atleast they were born in NZ, blame S.O.O coaches and kangaroos coach.

 

[Legend23]

Brad Thorn is a prime example of what a joke international rugby league is. QLDer how ever many tests for Australia and over 50 tests for the all blacks.

 

[Ahecee]

Pretty sure there are 2 Samoans in the kiwis team but could be missing some - Matulino (NZ Born) and RTS (Born in Samoa)

Aussie are just as bad when it comes to poaching players and not letting them play for the smaller countries - Papali'i, Milford (QLD) Samoa, Jennings - Tonga. Hayne played for Fiji till Aussie decided he was Aussie after 09 season. Tamou! Zzz he's a d*ckhead anyway lol.

Bottom line, dont blame just the kiwis, atleast they were born in NZ, blame S.O.O coaches and kangaroos coach.

I don't blame the kiwis, or the players..... if you could nominate Samoa or NZ as a player, NZ has more matches, and bigger ones so its a more attractive option no doubt.

Wouldn't even say NZ would be weaker without those few guys, its not like there is a lack of great kiwi players out there...... I would tease the idea of a strong international rugby league though, it really is only a strong sport in a handful of countries.

 

[marsh43]

I don't blame the kiwis, or the players..... if you could nominate Samoa or NZ as a player, NZ has more matches, and bigger ones so its a more attractive option no doubt.

Wouldn't even say NZ would be weaker without those few guys, its not like there is a lack of great kiwi players out there...... I would tease the idea of a strong international rugby league though, it really is only a strong sport in a handful of countries.

If players didnt get paid soo much to play S.O.O and receive more to play internationals, with more internationals played every year, then the international game would be bigger.

But right now, it can't compete with getting 50k-80k ppl to an origin game.

 

[Ahecee]

If players didnt get paid soo much to play S.O.O and receive more to play internationals, with more internationals played every year, then the international game would be bigger.

But right now, it can't compete with getting 50k-80k ppl to an origin game.

Yep, origin outlived its usefulness years ago and does hold the game back for the biggest event of the year to be held between 2 states, but it won't be going anywhere as long as it pulls in the cash that it does.

 

[marsh43]

Yep, origin outlived its usefulness years ago and does hold the game back for the biggest event of the year to be held between 2 states, but it won't be going anywhere as long as it pulls in the cash that it does.

It is now the main negotiating tool used. It brings soo much money in that it kills 6 weeks of the season and because of that, international games will never be as big as an All Blacks vs Wallabies game is.

 

[sultanofsydney]

european team play more than the island teams hence why the ranking are as sketchy as hell

 

[Ahecee]

It is now the main negotiating tool used. It brings soo much money in that it kills 6 weeks of the season and because of that, international games will never be as big as an All Blacks vs Wallabies game is.

It would be tough for RL to be bigger in international events at the moment anyway because Rugby is actually a international sport. RL locally might want to figure out how to be a national sport before worrying too much about international.

Australia has a interest in the Wallabies...... NSW and QLD have a interest in the Kangaroos.... even NSW, it is almost exclusively Sydney based. If you market Origin as the top event, which excludes most of the country, your going to have a problem building the game, origin may just be both the best, and worst idea in Australian Rugby League history.

Unless someone is willing to drop it, but even harder, drop at least half the Sydney based teams over time, then Rugby League can't really grow here. The game wasn't set up to be as strong as would be ideal, and sadly, super league which was going to address that lost.

 

[Wolfmother]

What a load of shit.

Where's Babylon?