World Rugby announce ‘significant’ rankings change before July Tests: ‘It reflects an evolving competition landscape’
World Rugby have announced a significant update to how teams will earn world rankings points, with the changes coming into effect from July 1, 2026.
It’s the first major change to how rating points have been calculated since the men’s rankings were introduced in October 2003, with the game’s governing body citing the ‘evolving competition landscape in the international game’ as a reason for the change.
World Rugby announced ranking points change
World Rugby have confirmed that from July 1, 2026 the ‘home weighting’ aspect of the rankings will be removed for both the men’s and women’s rankings.
This is to “reflect an evolving competition landscape in the international game”, the game’s governing body confirmed, with more neutral Tests taking place than before, replacing the traditional home and away match hosting model.
“This weighting saw the home team receiving an additional three rating points for calculation purposes, effectively cancelling out the advantage of playing at home and meaning winning at home often has a smaller impact on the rankings than winning away,” a World Rugby statement read.
“This also applied to host unions for major competitions, including men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups, Pacific Nations Cup, WXV Global Series and regional competitions.
“However, the international competition landscape has changed significantly in recent years and many tournaments are now played in centralised or out of country locations for strategic, commercial or financial reasons, meaning the home weighting often disadvantages the host team from a rankings perspective.”
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This year, several nations will be the home team at a neutral venue, notably Fiji who will play all three of their ‘home’ Nations Championship matches in the United Kingdom while Japan face off against Ireland in Australia in July.
The same is true for many of the Nations Cup fixtures, with Tonga hosting matches in the USA and Canada. Furthermore, the WXV Global Series Challenger will be played in a central location in Hong Kong.
World Rugby state that at present some 20 matches across international competitions are scheduled to take place in neutral locations before the end of 2026. This includes the clash between the Springboks and All Blacks in Baltimore, USA, which will be the final Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series Test.
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Current men’s World Rugby Rankings
(As of 19/06/2026)
1 South Africa 93.94
2 New Zealand 90.33
3 Ireland 89.07
4 France 87.46
5 Argentina 84.97
6 England 83.91
7 Scotland 82.90
8 Australia 81.53
9 Fiji 81.14
10 Italy 79.64
11 Wales 75.07
12 Japan 74.09
13 Georgia 71.94
14 Portugal 69.64
15 Uruguay 69.19
16 USA 68.26
17 Spain 67.51
18 Chile 66.72
19 Tonga 66.66
20 Samoa 66.43
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Current women’s World Rugby Rankings
(As of 19/06/2026)
1 England 98.09
2 New Zealand 91.60
3 Canada 89.78
4 France 84.59
5 Ireland 78.69
6 Italy 74.79
7 Scotland 74.40
8 USA 74.34
9 Australia 74.03
10 South Africa 71.62
11 Japan 69.72
12 Wales 65.22
13 Fiji 64.39
14 Spain 63.68
15 Samoa 59.31
16 Hong Kong China 57.49
17 Netherlands 56.59
18 Russia 55.10
19 Kazakhstan 53.95
20 Germany 51.10
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