Cook Islands men climbed three spots to number 10 in the world in the latest International Rugby League rankings.

Previously ranked 13^th, Cook Islands is now placed ahead of the likes of Serbia, Italy, Wales, Scotland and others.

Australia remains the top ranked men’s side followed by New Zealand, England, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France and Lebanon, from second to ninth places, respectively.

Cook Islands Rugby League President Charles Carlson said it was brilliant to see their men finally ranked 10^th among the best countries in the world in rugby league.

“Our participation in the World Cup last year and the Pacific Championship this year certainly helped with the ranking,” Charlson said. “We suffered badly in our rankings over the years despite playing in the World Cup 2013 and qualifying again in 2019 for World Cup 2021.”

“The lack of international competition doesn’t help with the rankings so now we have the opportunity to be part of the Pacific Championship 2023-2024 and World Cup qualifying in 2025 gives us the opportunity to plan and prepare well towards the next World Cup 2026.”

The Cook Islands Moana, who also competed in the World Cup and Pacific Championship, retained their sixth spot.

Australia is the top ranked women’s team followed by New Zealand, England, Papua New Guinea and France.

Carlson said: “Not sure why France is ahead at 5^th placing when the Cook Islands Moana beat France at the World Cup last year.”
“Nevertheless, a fantastic year for CIRL being ranked 10^th and 6^th in the world.”

International Rugby League chair Troy Grant said the rankings reflected the volume of internationals activity in 2023, with 64 sanctioned international matches being an unprecedented number outside a World Cup year.

“In a nine-day period alone we had 23 sanctioned international matches, which was wonderful to see,” Grant said.

“We have the Pacific Championships up and running in the Southern Hemisphere, with Papua New Guinea as winners of the Pacific Bowl and New Zealand as winners of the Pacific Cup.

“We also had an historic tour by Tonga to England in the Northern Hemisphere, which was well won by England.

“The Kiwi Ferns upset the Jillaroos for the first since 2016, as well, and in the women’s game, we had 18 senior matches this year compared to 12 non-Rugby League World Cup matches in 2022.

“That is a 50 per cent increase, which demonstrates the growth of the women’s game, with women’s matches in all four IRL regions.

“We had the first ever women’s games in Africa, for which Nigeria and Ghana will be credited in our sports annals and is a wonderful step forward, and in the women’s Americas Championships Canada enjoyed a convincing victory.

“The on-field activity is what it is all about, ultimately and I have every confidence that the on-field content will only continue to grow, as will the competitiveness and status of international rugby league.”

The IRL World Rankings are determined by the following criteria:

• Teams are awarded ranking points each time they play a sanctioned international fixture.
• Result and margin: The bigger the win, the more points the winning team receives and the fewer points are awarded to the loser.
• Strength of opponent: The higher the ranking of the opponent the greater the weighting of the result.
• Importance of the match: Games in official competition are weighted higher than bi-lateral arranged games. Rugby League World Cup games carry the greatest weighting.
• More recent games are weighted higher than older games and only games since the 2017 World Cup are considered.
• The rankings reward teams who are active and win games. RK/NRL.com