England will go into the 2017 World Cup in their usual third position in the world rankings.
Unsurprisingly, Australia remain the number one nation after their convincing victory over second placed New Zealand in the recent Anzac Test.
Scotland have retained their top four place with Tonga moving up one place after they defeated Fiji in last week’s Pacific Test.
There are two new names in the rankings with Thailand and Uruguay underlining the growth of the international game as more nations begin to take part in the sport.
Rankings:
1 Australia
2 New Zealand
3 England
4 Scotland
5 Samoa
6 France
7 Ireland
8 Fiji
9 Wales
10 USA
11 Tonga
12 Serbia
13 Canada
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
As of May 14th 2017
