The RLIF Rankings have been updated following the mid-season tests with Australia retaining their world No.1 ranking following their 30-12 ANZAC test victory over New Zealand.
The Kiwis remain behind them in second followed by England who are coming off a 30-10 victory over Samoa. There is only one change inside the top 10 with Ireland overtaking Fiji into seventh place.
Tonga have improved three places to 11th, moving past Serbia after Leilani Latu’s try on the siren that saw them knock off Fiji 26-24.
Meanwhile, Malta go ahead of Spain into 19th while Lebanon did not move from their ranking of 21st despite defeating Malta 24-4.
Following their strong showing against the PNG Kumuls, the Cook Islands have pipped Czech Republic to sit at world No.24.
In other changes, Niue have moved into world No.31 ahead of South Africa while Hungary were big movers increasing by five places to 33rd.
Thailand’s inclusion in the rankings sees them into 35th while El Salvador have jumped past Latvia and Solomon Islands into world No.38 and Uruguay join the rankings at 41st ahead of Morocco.
The updated rankings come just days after the King’s Cup was confirmed to be held in Pattaya Beach, Thailand in October.
The tournament will see Philippines, Malta and Hungary compete alongside Thailand and serve as an exciting tournament ahead of next year’s Emerging Nations World Championship to be held in Sydney.
In Istanbul, Dorcol proved themselves defeating Kadikoy Bulls 62-0 in the Balkan Super League while Novi Belgrade were knocked off by rivals Partizan 48-10 in a second-half blitz.
RLIF Rankings
1. Australia
2. New Zealand
3. England
4. Scotland
5. Samoa
6. France
7. Ireland
8. Fiji
9. Wales
10. United States
11. Tonga
12. Serbia
13. Canada
14. Italy
15. Papua New Guinea
16. Russia
17. Jamaica
18. Belgium
19. Malta
20. Spain
21. Lebanon
22. Ukraine
23. Germany
24. Cook Islands
25. Czech Republic
26. Norway
27. Denmark
28. Greece
29. Sweden
30. Netherlands
31. Niue
32. South Africa
33. Hungary
34. Philippines
35. Thailand
36. Chile
37. Vanuatu
38. El Salvador
39. Latvia
40. Solomon Islands
41. Uruguay
42. Morocco
GC Dave
Guest
Really the top 3 are a shoe in each and every time the rankings are advised, that's no surprise at all. The others are meaningless. The good thing is that Australia is number 1 again, back to normality. It doesn't need a ranking system to rate the top three, as for the rest, they are not even in the same ball park as them. The changes of late have been good for the game but if you think some of the players don't elect to pay for the top three when they are asked, we are all dreaming.
Republican
Guest
.....I would have thought PNG would be ranked higher? Clearly they have the talent pool to be right up in the top 5 while boasting a very robust grass roots support. Despite this they have not been afforded the commercial interest and support by the NRL that NZ have, while NZ do not offer the same grass roots support of the code that PNG does.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
Serbia have won most of their matches actually, in fact of their 13 matches since 2014 they have a 8-5 record (two of those losses coming against quality teams from Wales and Italy in WC qualifying). PM's XIII matches aren't RLIF sanctioned. Let's hope that PNG start playing some meaningful international rugby league outside of World Cup years and mid-season tests. Bringing back the Pacific Cup would be a good start.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
As Vincent mentions, Serbia regularly play test matches usually around 3-5 each year where as PNG only often play one sanctioned match (PM's XIII isn't an official test match). Unfortunately the Serbs, they were unfortunate in World Cup qualifying being drawn against Wales and Italy who both had professional players lining up for them while the White Eagles only had domestic players. With the World Cup expanding to 16 nations in 2017 though, expect to see Serbia competing for the Paul Barriere Trophy. The RLIF rankings aren't as effective, hopefully we see more international rugby league involving tier two nations such as PNG in the future and not just tier one and development nations.
Riley Pettigrew
Roar Guru
Absolutely Vincent, the rankings aren't entirely reflective of the skill level of each nation but rather the frequency of matches. The more matches played by countries such as the Pacific nations and big European nations, the more legitimate the international game will be. Let's hope that this next cycle we see more test matches played by tier two nations and not just tier one and emerging nations.
Fred
Guest
Fair point, and I do have a lot of respect for Serbia - they are coming along in great strides developing their domestic game. But Serbia can't have won too many of those 11 matches can they? Otherwise they would have qualified for the world cup. On another note - PNG plays Australia every year in the PM's XIII - I take it those don't count as test matches?
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
BEcause Serbia have played 11 matches since the last WC and PNG have only played like 4
Fred
Guest
How can Serbia, who has never made it to a world cup, be ahead of PNG, who last year beat Fiji?
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Wish they would play more games so international rankings meant something outside of about the top 4. The sample size is far too small.