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The RLIF rankings for December 2015 have been released with some interesting changes taking place.
The top five nations have remained the same, with England closing the gap on Australia and New Zealand, and opening the race for the number one spot ahead of the 2016 Four Nations tournament.
France failed to pass Samoa, after a poor European Championship campaign ruined their chances of regaining their spot in the top four.
Ireland and Wales, meanwhile, rose up the rankings to sixth and eighth spots respectively pushing Fiji and Scotland further down to seventh and ninth. It has created an interesting battle for the makeup of spots five to ten, further contested by the USA Hawks who closed the gap after qualifying for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
Serbia were the big movers, pushing to 11th at the expense of Papua New Guinea who fell to 14th. Italy and Canada kept their spots in the rankings and moved ahead of the Kumuls after their 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying campaigns.
Russia also rose to 15th at the expense of Tonga who are now level with Belgium. Malta, Germany and Lebanon rounded out the top 20, with Spain just one point off cracking the list having moved up an impressive five spots.
This movement saw Cook Islands, Ukraine and Norway fall further down the rankings with the opportunity for huge change after the Pacific Tests in May next year.
Full rankings
1. New Zealand (897) – no change
2. Australia (719) – no change
3. England (655) – no change
4. Samoa (280) – no change
5. France (209) – no change
6. Ireland (162) – up one spot
7. Fiji (147) – down one spot
8. Wales (132) – up one spot
9. Scotland (121) – down one spot
10. USA (102) – no change
11. Serbia (72) – up three spots
12. Italy (65) – no change
13. Canada (62) – no change
14. Papua New Guinea (60) – down three spots
15. Russia (46) – up one spot
16. Tonga (40) – down one spot
17. Belgium (40) – up one spot
18. Malta (32) – up five spots
19. Germany (28) – no change
20. Lebanon (27) – no change
21. Spain (26) – up five spots
22. Cook Islands (23) – down five spots
23. Ukraine (22) – down one spot
24. Greece (21) – no change
25. Denmark (20) – up two spots
26. Norway (19) – down five spots
27. Jamaica (16) – up two spots
28. Netherlands (15) – down three spots
29. Sweden (15) – up two spots
30. Czech Republic (14) – no change
31. South Africa (13) – down three spots
32. Niue (4) – no change
33 .Hungary (2) – no change
34 .Latvia (2) – no change
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