The Kangaroos have retained No.1 spot in the IRL World Rankings, despite suffering a record 30-0 loss to the Kiwis in the final of the Pacific Cup. The Jillaroos are also No.1 after splitting their two Tests against the Kiwi Ferns, winning one apiece, while the Wheelaroos are fourth in the wheelchair IRL World Rankings. The Kangaroos rose to the top spot after winning last year’s World Cup and Mal Meninga's men beat Toa Samoa in Townsville and New Zealand in Melbourne before suffering their biggest loss in 115 years in the final in Hamilton. The result sparked criticism of the Australian team and may cost some players their representative careers, while Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris won the IRL Golden Boot as the best international player. However, the Kangaroos are still regarded as the best team in the world, with the Kiwis in second post in the IRL World Rankings, ahead of England, who are now No.3 on the back of a 3-0 series win against Tonga. A year after their shock World Cup elimination by Toa Samoa, England have leapfrogged the Pacific nation, who suffering a 50-0 loss to Michael Maguire’s record-breaking New Zealand team and a 38-12 defeat by Australia in October. Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France and Lebanon, who have swapped places, are next, with Cook Islands rounding out the top 10. Cook Islands have climbed into the top 10 at the expense of Serbia, who rose from 15th mid-year but are now 11th after heavy losses to France and Netherlands. The Dutch have risen from 18th to 12th spot after winning all five of their matches in September and October, while Serbia have climbed eights spots to 20th following a 2-0 series triumph against Greece, who played in last year’s World Cup. In the women's IRL World Rankings, the Jillaroos remain No.1 while the rise of the PNG Orchids to fourth spot completes a top four of the semi-finalists from last year’s World Cup, who have qualified for RLWC2026. Tonga has climbed three places to 13th spot after their 28-10 defeat by New Zealand – a respectable loss against a highly rated opponent. Cook Islands are sixth, ahead of the other three Pacific nations vying for World Cup berths - Tonga, Samoa (20th) and Fiji (21st). Netherlands are 18th after beating Greece in their recent international debut, while Kenya, Nigeria, Jamaica, Ghana and Uganda also feature in the women’s rankings for the first time – taking the number of participating nations to 28. There has been almost as many sanctioned international matches involving women’s teams in the past two years as there was in the previous seven years. In the wheelchair IRL World Rankings, England retained No.1 spot from France after last year’s World Cup finalists enjoyed a win apiece in their recent two match series. IRL 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. Source: NRL.Com