End of Season International Rankings

[Tommygilf]

That 2nd tier of the rankings is dominated by European/NH nations. I really think the RFL and ERL (who have auspices over North America too?) have something to work with there.

There really should have been a Euro A comp this Autumn too for example (which there was half of between Wales and Ireland/Fev). I also think there should be concerted efforts with the RFL and SL clubs to work with these other nations. The Amsterdam pre-season was a great concept just needs building on, pre season in Southern Europe involving actual local clubs not Euro XIII nonsense would be good too.

We have to start building now.

[Dave T]

I wonder what kind of IRL funding would see the Euro comps being staged again annually?

Its crazy that this just stopped.

[bamfordsbeans]

Of the 57 countries listed in the men's list does anybody know how many of those have an active domestic competition.

Over the last 10 years or so I have read numerous optomistic articles about developing countries and their projected growth.

Unfortunately this seems to be followed up with limited or no news.

Examples are Belgium.Norway,Spain and Sweden.

 

[sam4731]

Hopefully this WC end the cycle of Lebanon being propped up by their ability to beat just enough teams to scrape into a knockout round with a team full of players that probably couldn't point out Lebanon on a map.

[Damien]

I dont normally put much stock into these as we play so few international games but this seems about right to me for the top 10. Full list in the link:

1 Australia

100%

2 New Zealand

79%

3 England

72%

4 Samoa

56%

5 Tonga

52%

6 PNG

45%

7 Fiji

33%

8 France

23%

9 Cook Islands

23%

10 Serbia

23%

https://www.intrl.sport/world-rankings

 

[Eddie]

13 minutes ago, Damien said:

I dont normally put much stock into these as we play so few international games but this seems about right to me for the top 10. Full list in the link:

1 Australia

100%

2 New Zealand

79%

3 England

72%

4 Samoa

56%

5 Tonga

52%

6 PNG

45%

7 Fiji

33%

8 France

23%

9 Cook Islands

23%

10 Serbia

23%

https://www.intrl.sport/world-rankings

 

Lebanon not even in the top 20 but guaranteed a WC place

[sam4731]

We had a thread on this earlier.

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

We had a thread on this earlier.

Fair enough, missed that. @John Drake please merge 

[welshmagpie]

13 hours ago, sam4731 said:

Hopefully this WC end the cycle of Lebanon being propped up by their ability to beat just enough teams to scrape into a knockout round with a team full of players that probably couldn't point out Lebanon on a map.

Only full members can qualify for RLWC2030

Top 8 ranked in Dec 2028 will qualify automatically.

Highly likely that Lebanon will be neither of the above.

[sam4731]

3 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Only full members can qualify for RLWC2030

Top 8 ranked in Dec 2028 will qualify automatically.

Highly likely that Lebanon will be neither of the above.

I've only just actually seen this, must've passed me by.

I just assumed that it would only be semi finalists that would qualify automatically.

Absolute joke.

[Hopie]

So these rankings are going to be pretty important going forward:
"It was determined in 2023 that the top 8 ranked nations in Dec 2028 will qualify for IRL Men's RLWC 2030"
https://x.com/IntlRugbyLeague/status/1988957386254827543

Teams 8, 9 and 10 having the same percentage would lead to an interesting race in most sports.

I think there are currently 13 full members of the IRL and "Only full members are eligible for the men's RLWC."
https://x.com/IntlRugbyLeague/status/1989279837857697800

Oh, and for some reason the deadline to beome a full member is nearly 2 years before the qualification date, and Lebanon will qualify for 2030 if they win the world cup next year.
"Yes. @LebanonRL is aware it must achieve FM by 31/3/27 or win RLWC26 to be eligible for RLWC30.
https://x.com/IntlRugbyLeague/status/1989630068965204282

Is the 2030 RLWC for men going to be just 10 teams again?

Edited November 18 by Hopie

[Tommygilf]

32 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Only full members can qualify for RLWC2030

Top 8 ranked in Dec 2028 will qualify automatically.

Highly likely that Lebanon will be neither of the above.

Its absolutely imperative that France are in that 8.

Only 14 full members atm anyhow, though because of Jamaica and South Africa, those 14 are spread over 4 continents.

Of the 14, only 5 are European - England, France, Wales, Serbia and Ukraine.

These 5 should be our primary European focus, with Jamaica too in the Americas. Then turn attention our leading affiliates to be built up to full membership; ideally USA and Canada to help Jamaica, the 9 other European Nations, and the MEA nations. 

[Pulga]

I think the top 4 are a little off. I'd have 1. NZ, 2. Aus, 3. Samoa & 4. England.

 

You'd hope this would be a wakeup call to Scotland.

[langpark]

5 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

Only full members can qualify for RLWC2030

Top 8 ranked in Dec 2028 will qualify automatically.

Highly likely that Lebanon will be neither of the above.

Wow, I also must have missed that. That is terrible news and a terrible way to run a sport! 80% of places automatically handed out 2 years in advance  

[Dave T]

42 minutes ago, langpark said:

Wow, I also must have missed that. That is terrible news and a terrible way to run a sport! 80% of places automatically handed out 2 years in advance  

Especially when we play so few tests that the rankings can be challenging.

[gnidir]

21 hours ago, bamfordsbeans said:

Of the 57 countries listed in the men's list does anybody know how many of those have an active domestic competition.

Over the last 10 years or so I have read numerous optomistic articles about developing countries and their projected growth.

Unfortunately this seems to be followed up with limited or no news.

Examples are Belgium.Norway,Spain and Sweden.

 

Jamaica has several levels of established competition, 20 years of it actually. High school, University, expansion leagues, national championships, parish of residence (State of Origin type), a performance programme (Hurricanes), and a slowly developing women's game. 

Sweden has been inactive for some years, great guys there, but lost a lot of momentum when a few left the country, so no real football going on there. 

Spain seems to have gone backwards a long way, big travel distances etc, Norway has some pretty established clubs now, but im not sure how often they play.

Ukraine, Serbia, and the Netherlands seem to be the most consistent of the non major European countries. Id say they have more established and active teams that Scotland do, and possibly more than Wales.

 

[Eddie]

8 hours ago, welshmagpie said:

Only full members can qualify for RLWC2030

Top 8 ranked in Dec 2028 will qualify automatically.

Highly likely that Lebanon will be neither of the above.

Strange decision when the IRL don’t know where the comp will be or how many teams will be in it. 

[sam4731]

3 hours ago, Dave T said:

Especially when we play so few tests that the rankings can be challenging.

If I was a full member I'd be trying to pack in as many tests against weaker teams in the next couple of years. I know strength of opposition factors into the formula but a win is a win and if you win enough fixtures, it must have a big impact. That would be a big middle finger to the NRL if we could boost Serbia, Ukraine and/or Wales into that top 8.

[Dave T]

9 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

If I was a full member I'd be trying to pack in as many tests against weaker teams in the next couple of years. I know strength of opposition factors into the formula but a win is a win and if you win enough fixtures, it must have a big impact. That would be a big middle finger to the NRL if we could boost Serbia, Ukraine and/or Wales into that top 8.

This is one of those examples of things I worry about with regards to NRL control (to bring it back to the original topic!). Decisions like this arent very good, but they make them, and there is no reason that poor decisions like this dont become a factor of the club game.

The decision makers will know the shortcomings of this approach, but they dont care. Its the easy solution and based on the fixtures committed to they know who will qualify.

[Tommygilf]

18 minutes ago, sam4731 said:

If I was a full member I'd be trying to pack in as many tests against weaker teams in the next couple of years. I know strength of opposition factors into the formula but a win is a win and if you win enough fixtures, it must have a big impact. That would be a big middle finger to the NRL if we could boost Serbia, Ukraine and/or Wales into that top 8.

If by some miracle France can get 2 wins at the World Cup (say against the Cook Islands and PNG), definitely excellent opportunity. I'd even try and get a run out against a Kiwi team next year during their tour.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, sam4731 said:

If I was a full member I'd be trying to pack in as many tests against weaker teams in the next couple of years. I know strength of opposition factors into the formula but a win is a win and if you win enough fixtures, it must have a big impact. That would be a big middle finger to the NRL if we could boost Serbia, Ukraine and/or Wales into that top 8.

You might find the rules changed if that happened. 

[langpark]

1 hour ago, sam4731 said:

If I was a full member I'd be trying to pack in as many tests against weaker teams in the next couple of years. I know strength of opposition factors into the formula but a win is a win and if you win enough fixtures, it must have a big impact. That would be a big middle finger to the NRL if we could boost Serbia, Ukraine and/or Wales into that top 8.

I have a feeling that the WC 2026 matches will be so heavily weighted compared to regular internationals, that it will make very little difference. 

[Eddie]

Anyone know when Lebanon last played a fixture?

[Dave T]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Anyone know when Lebanon last played a fixture?

This is a quote from the IRL website:

"Lebanon, the other Men’s team qualified for RLWC26, have dropped from 16th to 21st after playing their first sanctioned match since the last World Cup in October and losing 16-14 to Italy with a team which did not include any NRL players."

It does raise a couple of issues. The fact that they haven't played a game since the 2022 World Cup, and why on earth does the IRL article have to highlight whether the team had NRL players or not?

[Damien]

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Anyone know when Lebanon last played a fixture?

Their first game since the World Cup was a few weeks ago against Italy in Sydney. It was one of those heritage affairs consisting of Aussie lower grade players at a small Oval in Sydney.