Kiwis overtaken by England in latest rugby league world rankings

[josie andrews]

The Kiwis have slipped to third in the rugby league world rankings, following their recent series loss to England.

The Michael Maguire coached team may have beat Australia at Mt Smart Stadium in October, but the three losses in four tests against England this year resulted in the two nations swapping positions in the latest world rankings.

Wayne Bennett's England team have closed the gap on Australia and it's likely that when the Kangaroos travel to England in 2020, top position will be up for grabs.

"This is a good way to round off what has been a successful year for all our teams in the England Performance Unit," England director of rugby Kevin Sinfield said.

"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 have 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.

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.



RLIF men's world 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) Papua New Guinea
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



RLIF women's Rankings:
1 (1) Australia
2 (2) England
3 (3) New Zealand
4 (4) Tonga
5 (5) Fiji
6 (6) France
7 (7) Samoa
8 (8) Scotland
9 (9) Lebanon


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sp ... 109064375/