Rugby league’s latest world rankings with England set for major leap alongside Papua New Guinea

It’s the final round of international fixtures of 2024 this weekend as the finals of the Pacific Championships take place Down Under: and there is plenty at stake.

New Zealand and Papua New Guinea are taking one another on in the relegation play-off which will determine the third team alongside Samoa and Tonga in next year’s Pacific Championship. The loser heads to the Pacific Bowl in 2025.

Australia and Tonga are bidding for the right to be crowned champions, while there are also two intriguing women’s games with equally significant ramifications.

But as well as the trophies and the tournament entries on offer, there’s also crucial world ranking points. It’s rare the rankings actually get updated given the sheer lack of international rugby we’ve seen in recent years, but that does appear to be changing.

And while there’s certainly no surprise about who will end 2024 on top of the list, there are some movers and shakers that are well worth tracking: and that includes Shaun Wane’s England, too.

How the rankings work

According to the IRL’s website, every team has a ranking based off their international results in the last four seasons. The result of that match, the margin of the outcome and the rankings of the teams any nation has played all contribute to the final score.

So too does the date of the match – a game played in the last two years, for example, is worth twice the value as one three years ago (in this case, 2021), and four times the value of one four years ago (in this case, 2020).

Finally, the significance of the match has a bearing too. World Cup matches take priority followed by World Cup qualifying games, regional championships and then individual Test matches.

That gives every nation a percentage and going into the final international games of the season – after which the 2024 autumn international results will be added in – here is how everything looks.

It’s the Kangaroos on top, with a percentage of 100%. New Zealand are next on 82% followed by England on 80%. Samoa have a score of 67%, Tonga 49%, Fiji 47%, Papua New Guinea 46% before a big drop to France in 8th on 28%, Lebanon on 22% and Cook Islands rounding off the top 10 on 20%.

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These rankings are as of June 30 this year, meaning ALL of this year’s autumn internationals are to be added into the mix – which is clearly good news for the England men’s side.

Given how they are just two per cent behind New Zealand and have a series whitewash over fourth-ranked Samoa to add into their results, it’s looking increasingly likely England could be 2nd in the world by the end of this week.

That prospect would become even more likely if the Kiwis were beaten by the 7th-placed Kumuls, who themselves could move up the rankings significantly if they earn promotion to the top tier of the Pacific Championships.

What else is at stake? Well, Tonga would know victory against the Kangaroos on Sunday would nudge them even closer to the top four in the world – it may even be good enough to get them above Samoa given their losses this autumn.

The thing is, nobody is quite 100 per cent sure what a victory does in terms of percentage points, as it’s quite a complicated system! But we do know that with the margin between the Kiwis and England so close – just 2 per cent – it’s looking for the prospect of the world’s top two teams meeting in the Ashes next year.

Out of interest, here is the remainder of the top 30 in the men’s game:

11. Serbia, 12. Netherlands, 13. Italy, 14. Greece, 15. Malta, 16. Ireland, 17. Wales, 18. Jamaica, 19. Scotland, 20. Ukraine, 21. Czechia, 22. Germany, 23. Chile, 24. Poland, 25. Norway, 26. Kenya, 27. Philippines, 28. South Africa, 29. Nigeria, 30. Ghana

And the women’s top 10:

1. Australia, 2. New Zealand, 3. England, 4. France, 5. Papua New Guinea, 6. Cook Islands, 7. Wales, 8. Canada, 9. Greece, 10. Ireland.

And in the wheelchair game (there are only nine ranked nations):

1. England, 2. France, 3. Australia, 4. Ireland, 5. Wales, 6. Scotland, 7. USA, 8. Spain, 9. Italy

But that could all change this weekend. In fact, it almost certainly will.

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