Wales men have risen up from 17th to 12th in the official International Rugby League World Rankings following excellent performances this autumn.
Two wins out of three has seen Wales go up five places and are once again knocking on the door of the top 10.
The Wales women’s side have also risen, after qualifying for the World Cup and also taking on England later in the year. They got up from seventh to sixth, their highest ever position.
Our Wales Wheelchair side remain at fifth in the world.
Australia are still first in the men’s and women’s rankings following their Pacific Cup victories, whilst England are still the top wheelchair team – but only by the narrowest of margins from France after winning one match apiece in their recent series.
The IRL World Rankings are calculated on each nation’s performance over the current season and the three preceding seasons.
Points are awarded to each team for each match based on:
- The result of the match – win, lose or draw.
- The margin of victory (or defeat) – the larger the winning margin the greater the value to the rankings.
- The relative strength of opposition faced – if you play a higher ranked team that is of greater value than playing a lower ranked team.
- The date of the match – more recent matches are weighted more heavily – a result in the most recent two years is worth double a result three years ago and four times a result that is four years old.
- The importance of the match – World Cup matches are ranked top followed in order by World Cup Qualifiers, Regional Championships and one-off international matches.
- The points are then used to create the Official World Rankings by ordering the teams by virtue of the points gained over the four-year period.
Only officially sanctioned matches played at senior level between two approved members are considered as part of the rankings.
The 72 sanctioned international matches in 2024 was the most of any year besides 2022, when the men’s, women’s and wheelchair World Cups were staged together for the first time and an increase on last year’s record 64 international fixtures.
| Men | Rating points | Position |
| Australia | 795.5291 | 100% |
| New Zealand | 682.8314 | 86% |
| England | 666.7084 | 84% |
| Tonga | 505.0808 | 63% |
| Samoa | 427.1697 | 54% |
| PNG | 420.5499 | 53% |
| Fiji | 348.6101 | 44% |
| France | 235.9263 | 30% |
| Serbia | 182.2849 | 23% |
| Cook Islands | 178.3208 | 22% |
| Netherlands | 175.1481 | 22% |
| Wales | 144.582 | 18% |
| Malta | 135.2855 | 17% |
| Ukraine | 103.727 | 13% |
| Greece | 96.91354 | 12% |
| Lebanon | 93.25598 | 12% |
| Italy | 84.37189 | 11% |
| Ireland | 71.69043 | 9% |
| Jamaica | 63.74728 | 8% |
| Czech Republic | 62.79971 | 8% |
| Chile | 61.20392 | 8% |
| Scotland | 59.28677 | 7% |
| Philippines | 59.21733 | 7% |
| USA | 55.43881 | 7% |
| Poland | 42.80433 | 5% |
| South Africa | 41.4516 | 5% |
| Germany | 39.82638 | 5% |
| Norway | 38.37436 | 5% |
| Brazil | 35.36892 | 4% |
| Kenya | 34.33839 | 4% |
| Canada | 32.54063 | 4% |
| Montenegro | 28.51396 | 4% |
| North Macedonia | 25.55526 | 3% |
| Argentina | 22.18878 | 3% |
| Albania | 16.84592 | 2% |
| Bulgaria | 13.58598 | 2% |
| Ghana | 12.87863 | 2% |
| Nigeria | 12.76776 | 2% |
| Turkey | 11.42456 | 1% |
| Cameroon | 7.241718 | 1% |
| Japan | 5.606711 | 1% |
| Spain | 5.048606 | 1% |
| Colombia | 4.440959 | 1% |
| El Salvador | 3.275208 | 0% |
| Russia | 1.844829 | 0% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1.316928 | 0% |
| Niue | 0 | 0% |
| Solomon Islands | 0 | 0% |
| Belgium | 0 | 0% |
| Hungary | 0 | 0% |
| Morocco | 0 | 0% |
| Vanuatu | 0 | 0% |
| Hong Kong | 0 | 0% |
| Sweden | 0 | 0% |
| Denmark | 0 | 0% |
| Latvia | 0 | 0% |
| Estonia | 0 | 0% |
| Women | Rating points | Rating index |
| Australia Women | 848.8938 | 100% |
| New Zealand Women | 703.3754 | 83% |
| England Women | 469.2132 | 55% |
| France Women | 303.853 | 36% |
| Papua New Guinea Women | 242.4242 | 29% |
| Wales Women | 204.7767 | 24% |
| Ireland Women | 158.2215 | 19% |
| Greece Women | 155.2129 | 18% |
| Canada Women | 144.3757 | 17% |
| Cook Islands Women | 140.2167 | 17% |
| Samoa Women | 120.0641 | 14% |
| Serbia Women | 96.75521 | 11% |
| Netherlands Women | 96.69684 | 11% |
| USA Women | 88.46062 | 10% |
| Tonga Women | 88.08626 | 10% |
| Fiji Women | 69.20904 | 8% |
| Nigeria Women | 67.00094 | 8% |
| Kenya Women | 61.49327 | 7% |
| Philippines Women | 59.94429 | 7% |
| Brazil Women | 54.61092 | 6% |
| Italy Women | 43.86456 | 5% |
| Uganda Women | 27.09008 | 3% |
| Jamaica Women | 23.57601 | 3% |
| Ghana Women | 21.12755 | 2% |
| Malta Women | 19.76466 | 2% |
| Turkey Women | 17.04826 | 2% |
| Lebanon Women | 0 | 1% |
| Wheelchair | Rating points | Rating index |
| England Wheelchair | 769.1657 | 100% |
| France Wheelchair | 735.5322 | 96% |
| Ireland Wheelchair | 422.8235 | 55% |
| Australia Wheelchair | 401.6582 | 52% |
| Wales Wheelchair | 362.465 | 47% |
| Scotland Wheelchair | 296.0199 | 38% |
| Spain Wheelchair | 206.325 | 27% |
| USA Wheelchair | 194.4875 | 25% |
| New Zealand Wheelchair | 42.24358 | 5% |
| Italy Wheelchair | 0 | 0% |
