International Rugby League world rankings updated: England 3rd & Papua New Guinea 6th as Cook Islands into top 10
England, Papua New Guinea & the Cook Islands are now all in the top 10 of the men's International Rugby League rankings - Alamy
The International Rugby League world rankings have been updated as of December 2023, with England 3rd, Papua New Guinea 6th and the Cook Islands into the top 10 in the men’s game.
Nations are awarded points by the IRL each time they play a sanctioned international fixture, awarded based upon the following criteria.
- 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.
International Rugby League world rankings updated: England 3rd & Papua New Guinea 6th as Cook Islands move into top 10
Shaun Wane’s England move up to 3rd having achieved a whitewash in the autumn test series with a 3-0 win against Tonga, beating Kristian Woolf’s side in St Helens, Huddersfield and Leeds.
They leapfrog Samoa, who they could still face in the autumn of 2024, after Ben Gardiner’s side were hammered by both Australia and New Zealand at the Pacific Championships.
The Kiwis were crowned champions of the inaugural instalment of those Championships, inflicting a record-breaking 30-0 defeat on world champions Australia in the final, their biggest loss in 115 years. Despite that, the Kangaroos remain top of the tree this Christmas, with New Zealand still second.
Elsewhere, the Cook Islands have made it into the top 10 for the end of 2023, overtaking Serbia, who were beaten heavily by both France and the Netherlands.
Serbia had risen from 15th up into the top 10 earlier this year but now sit 11th. Malta (14th), Ukraine (20th), the Philippines (23rd), Poland (24th) and the USA (33rd) are also among the nations to have risen substantially.
The full IRL men’s world rankings can be seen below.
International Rugby League world rankings – Men’s
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Samoa
5. Tonga
6. Papua New Guinea
7. Fiji
8. France
9. Lebanon
10. Cook Islands
11. Serbia
12. Netherlands
13. Italy
14. Malta
15. Greece
16. Ireland
17. Wales
18. Jamaica
19. Scotland
20. Ukraine
21. Czech Republic
22. Germany
23. Phillipines
24. Poland
25. South Africa
26. Chile
27. Kenya
28. Norway
29. Nigeria
30. Ghana
31. Brazil
32. Turkey
33. USA
34. Bulgaria
35. Cameroon
36. Montenegro
37. Spain
38. Japan
39. Albania
40. Colombia
41. El Salvador
42. North Macedonia
43. Morocco
44. Sweden
45. Bosnia and Herzegovina
46. Canada
47. Niue
48. Solomon Islands
49. Belgium
50. Hungary
51. Vanuatu
52. Argentina
53. Denmark
54. Latvia
55. Estonia
International Rugby League world rankings – Women’s
The top three in the women‘s rankings looks exactly the same as in the men’s, with Australia top, New Zealand 2nd, and England sat 3rd. That’s despite the Kiwi Ferns inflicting a first defeat on the Jillaroos since 2016.
PNG are up to fourth, while Tonga sit 13th. The USA have also enjoyed success in terms of the rankings – as shown in full below – with a rise to 16th having gone up against both Jamaica and Canada this year.
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Papua New Guinea
5. France
6. Cook Islands
7. Canada
8. Wales
9. Ireland
10. Greece
11. Brazil
12. Serbia
13. Tonga
14. Phillipines
15. Italy
16. USA
17. Turkey
18. Netherlands
19. Malta
20. Samoa
21. Fiji
22. Jamaica
23. Nigeria
24. Kenya
25. Ghana
26. Uganda
27. Lebanon
28. Argentina
International Rugby League world rankings – Wheelchair
In the wheelchair rankings, Tom Coyd’s England remain top of the ladder, securing the #1 spot in back-to-back years for the first time ever having won last year’s World Cup final against France.
This year, Coyd’s side were beaten by the French in Leeds, but responded with a 34-18 triumph in Marseille, that just the second time an England Wheelchair team have ever won a game in France, the previous one coming in 2019.
The wheelchair rankings in full are as follows:
1. England
2. France
3. Wales
4. Australia
5. Ireland
6. Scotland
7. Spain
8. USA
9. Italy