The new men’s World Rankings have been issued following various autumn internationals that featured Word Cup Qualifiers, the European and Americas Championships, Pacific Tests and England’s three-match home series against New Zealand.
With England having won those encounters 2-1, and beaten the same opponents in Denver mid-season, Wayne Bennett’s men have gone above the Kiwis into second place, and significantly closed the gap on Australia. It is likely that when the Kangaroos travel to England in 2020, top position will be up for grabs.
England director of rugby Kevin Sinfield commented: “This is a good way to round off what has been a successful year for all our teams in the England Performance Unit. We saw a good number of new faces come through into the senior England squad, some of them from the Knights programme who themselves had a successful trip to Papua New Guinea.
“It’s pleasing to see the investment we’ve made, in combination with Sport England, paying dividends and due credit for what has been an excellent team effort on and off the field.”
France has moved back to sixth after their triumph in the European Championship and passage to the 2021 World Cup, Wales and Jamaica also going up in the rankings after similarly making the tournament in England in three years’ time.
The success of the Emerging Nations’ World Championship in October has seen two new entries with Poland and Turkey ranked for the first time, giving a significant boost to the Eastern Europe/Mediterranean region.
“To get a ranking is a huge first milestone for us as a rugby league nation, and a great shot in the arm for all of us involved,” said Poland head coach, Lee Addison. “We dedicate it to Łukasz Łucka who is the tireless, driving force behind the game here.
“It’s important that we now build on this momentum, and incumbent on all of us to make sure we do everything in our power to continue to grow the domestic game in Poland, but we are on the map and that should help drive us forward.”
In all, 65 fully sanctioned international matches were played in the calendar year which represents a record.
There were no changes to the women’s rankings.
MEN’S RANKINGS:
1 (1) Australia
2 (3) England
3 (2) New Zealand
4 (4) Tonga
5 (5) Fiji
6 (8) France
7 (6) Samoa
8 (7) Scotland
9 (9) Lebanon
10 (10) PNG
11 (12) Wales
12 (11) Ireland
13 (13) Italy
14 (15) Jamaica
15 (14) USA
16 (18) Malta
17 (17) Serbia
18 (21) Hungary
19 (26) Greece
20 (19) Norway
21 (16) Canada
22 (27) Philippines
23 (UR) Poland
24 (34) Niue
25 (24) Czech Republic
26 (28) Netherlands
27 (42) Solomon Islands
28 (22) Spain
29 (20) Russia
30 (30) Germany
31 (UR) Turkey
32 (33) Chile
33 (36) Vanuatu
34 (41) Japan
35 (25) Ukraine
36 (37) El Salvador
37 (32) South Africa
38 (29) Sweden
39 (23) Belgium
40 (45) Hong Kong
41 (40) Colombia
42 (39) Argentina
43 (31) Cook Islands
44 (35) Denmark
45 (43) Brazil
46 (44) Uruguay
47 (46) Bulgaria
48 (47) Latvia
WOMEN’S RANKINGS:
1 (1) Australia
2 (2) New Zealand
3 (3) England
4 (4) Canada
5 (5) Cook Islands
6 (8) Papua New Guinea
7 (6) France
8 (7) Italy
9 (9) Lebanon
