Oliver’s top four World Rankings

After a couple of weeks where we have seen some amazing games the International Rugby League landscape has certainly had a shake-up, so lets have a look at where I have the world’s top 4 nations ranked.

4- Great Britain/England

Before this International break I had England ranked second but after a loss to Tonga in a game they should’ve won and a loss to New Zealand they drop a couple of spots for me, however, due to how close the New Zealand game was and their impressive record over them in 2018, if Great Britain beats the Kiwis in their next meeting, then they’re back up to third.

3- New Zealand

The Kiwis did just beat Great Britain and if they beat them again I’ll have them in second, however other than that, Kiwis were easily beaten by the Kangaroos, beat Tonga and also lost two to one during their tour of England in 2018.

2- Tonga

Tonga are second based off of their two last wins alone, yes, it’s not as much “evidence” as the other two, but when you think about where Tonga are at as a tier two nation and where they were expected to perform in those two games, I believe the second seed is a worthy placing, they beat my at the time world number two (GB/England) and number one (Australia) in games they weren’t expected to win, however keep in mind another New Zealand victory of Great Britain will see them bumped back down t0 third.

1- Australia

They may have suffered a loss Tonga in a close match, however it takes a lot to knock the back to back World Cup champions off the top of their perch, not to mention they pretty conclusively beat arch-rivals New Zealand two weeks ago, however depending on other results, if Australia don’t have a dominant 2020, then they’re in danger.