Top 20 Rankings as of 10 SEPTEMBER 2007[1]
Rank	Team	Points
1	New Zealand	93.38
2	Australia	87.03
3	South Africa	85.40
4	Argentina	84.82
5	France	83.13
6	Ireland	81.12
7	England	78.89
8	Wales	77.53
9	Italy	75.37
10	Samoa	74.97
11	Scotland	74.95
12	Fiji	70.52
13	Canada	68.97
14	Tonga	67.52
15	United States	67.20
16	Romania	66.79
17	Georgia	66.38
18	Japan	65.85
19	Russia	64.37
20	Uruguay	62.66

The IRB World Rankings is a ranking system for men's national teams in rugby union. The teams of the member nations of IRB (International Rugby Board), governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. Image File history File links Irb. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_New_Zealand. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_South_Africa. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Argentina. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Ireland_rugby. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England. ... First international (also the worlds first) Scotland 4–1 England (27 March 1871) Largest win England 134–0 Romania (17 November 2001) Worst defeat Australia 76–0 England (6 June 1998) The England national rugby union team is a sporting side that represents England in rugby union. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Wales_2. ... First international  England 30 – 0 Wales  (19 February 1881) Largest win  Japan 0 – 98 Wales  (26 November 2004) Worst defeat  South Africa 96 – 13 Wales  (27 June 1998) World Cup Appearances 5 (First in 1987) Best result Third 1987 The Wales national rugby union team (also referred to as the... Image File history File links Flag_of_Italy. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Samoa. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Scotland. ... First international (also the worlds first) Scotland 4 - 1 England (27 March 1871) Largest win Scotland 100 - 8 Japan (13 November 2004) Worst defeat Scotland 10 - 68 South Africa (6 December 1997) World Cup Appearances 5 (First in 1987) Best result 4th 1991 The Scotland national rugby union team... Image File history File links Flag_of_Fiji. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Tonga. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Romania. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Georgia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Russia. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Uruguay. ... For other uses, see Rugby (disambiguation). ... The IRB logo. ...

The point system are calculated using a 'Points Exchange' system, in which sides take points off each other based on the match result. Whatever one side gains, the other loses. The exchanges are based on the match result, the relative strength of each team, and the margin of victory, and there is an allowance for home advantage. The system is designed to produce an accurate picture of current strength of teams, based on results. The importance of past successes will fade and be superseded by more recent results.

Points exchanges are doubled during the World Cup Finals to recognise the unique importance of this event. All other full international matches are treated the same, to be as fair as possible to countries playing a different mix of friendly and competitive matches across the world. Matches that do not have full international status between two member countries do not count at all. For the rugby league competition, see Rugby League World Cup. ...

All member countries have a rating, typically between 0 and 100. The top side in the world will normally have a rating above 90 points.

How it works

For each match, there are only five possible outcomes that can affect points exchanges: either side winning by more than 15 points, either side winning by up to 15 points, or a draw. This system was developed following years of research using an extensive database of international matches, going back to 1871. 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Home advantage and margin of victory

All the weightings and values in the system were derived from detailed analysis of the results. When calculating points exchanges, the home side is treated as though they are three rating points better than their current rating. This has the effect of 'handicapping' the home side as they will tend to pick up fewer points for winning and give away more points for losing. In this way, the advantage of playing at home is cancelled out. It has also been found that match results are more important than margins of victory in producing accurate rankings i.e if a highly ranked team (tier 1) plays a lowly-ranked team (tier3) and manages to beat them by over 50 points, it doesnt indicate how a team will perform in the future.

New countries

New countries start with a rating of 40, and their rating is treated as provisional until they have played 10 matches. The rankings are responsive to results and it is possible to get from the bottom to the top (and vice-versa) in fewer than 20 matches. Countries will normally have a rating between 0 and 100. As all matches are worth a total of 0 points (as whatever one side gains, the other loses) there is no particular advantage to playing more matches. Under the system, a country has a certain rating, which stays the same until they play again. Although matches often result in points exchanges, relatively 'predictable' results lead to very minor changes, and may result in no change to either side's rating at all. For other uses, see Rugby (disambiguation). ...

When countries merge, the new country inherits the highest rating of any of the two countries but when they split, the new countries will inherit a rating at a fixed level below the rating of the original country.

Dormant countries

Countries that have not played a test in a couple of years are removed from the ranking system and the list but if they are active again, they will pick up their ratings from where they left off. For other uses, see Rugby (disambiguation). ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official World Rankings