A History of Rugby Rankings And why some nations are better than others

Top Tier There is no sporting team quite like the All Blacks. They have won 76% of their test matches, the highest in any International team sport. Only five teams have ever beaten them and have sat atop the rugby world rankings longer than all the other nations combined since their introduction in 2003. They are the top amond Tier One. In 2013 they won all of their matches, a feat unmatched in the professional era. The International Rugby Board (IRB) has designated 10 nations as being in Tier 1. These nations tend to have fully professional club or regional teams and compete on the biggest stage year-in-year-out. The nations include the mighty All Blacks, along with Southern Hemisphere rivals South Africa, Australia and Argentina. Europeans England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland (Republic and Northern), France and Italy complete the list. These nations have been playing Rugby Union the longest and have the national infrastructure to support the game's growth without considerable help from the IRB. Data obtained from the IRB's archive of rankings demonstrate that these teams sit atop the Rugby pyramid but even within them there is a distinct hierarchy. As mentioned earlier, New Zealand are in a league of their own. As to why this nation of only 4 million is so good; early pioneering All Black teams in the late 1800s and early 1900s probably played a part in establishing the sport as integral in both the European and indigenous Maori cultures. The South Africans consistently challenge New Zealand for top spot. Brought to The Cape by British colonials, it was to become of the few things the British and the Boers seemed to both enjoy. Whilst still struggling for popularity among the black population, the emotional World Cup Victory in 1995 is seen the example of sport bringing people together. Australia, despite lower playing numbers than New Zealand and South Africa and a nation who prefer Rugby League and Aussie Rules still manage to remain ahead of the Europeans. There are multiple theories as to why the Southern Hemisphere consistently beats the north despite the larger amount of money in the European game. Some say that the dry and hard grounds south of the equator complement a skilled and fast game whilst the Europeans slog it out through wet winters. The structure of the club game is Europe is said to be more profit driven whereas in the south, clubs almost exist entirely to benefit the national side. That structure may contribute towards players in the North playing more games and thus more fatigued, top French rugby sides play at least 26 games per season whilst a top New Zealand side, at most 22. Situated among the European teams are the Pumas. The Argentineans are the odd-one out amongst the Southern Hemisphere. Like most of the Tier 1 nations, the game was introduced to them by British colonists in the late 19th century and the game has grown from there. However, due to their isolation they have always struggled to get regular competitive fixtures for their national side until 2012 when they finally were entered into an annual tournament with the three other southern hemisphere nations. The domestic game is still amateur in Argentina so the vast majority of their players ply their trade in Europe.

Tier 2 The Pacific Islanders - namely Samoa, Fiji and Tonga - live and breathe rugby as much as New Zealanders do. However, poor infrastructure has meant that they do not have the resources or playing numbers to be designated Tier One nations. They sit in the IRB's second tier along with Georgia, Romania, Canada and the USA. Tier 2 nations are ones which have significant player bases and are generally have rugby as one of their more popular sports. The best home grown players tend to emigrate to play professionally. All Tier 2 nations have been to at least one Rugby World Cup but play Tier 1 nations very rarely outside it and are often beaten when they do. The IRB seeks to address that by developing 'Elite Performance Plans' which will hope to elevate these countries to compete at the highest level. Of these nations, Samoa has consistently been the strongest. Like the other Pacific Nations, rugby is the most popular sport, there are 5000 registered players in a country of 175 000 people. The Samoans have punching above their weight for quite some time with their first major scalp coming against Wales in 1991. Brought to the Islands by Catholic missionaries in the early 20th century, the islanders have taken to the sport with great aplomb, with the physical nature of the sport complementing its cultural values. Rugby Sevens, a variant of rugby played with only seven on either side rather than 15 is also immensely popular in the South Pacific. Georgia's place among the second tier does not come from any shared heritage with a country that has a very similar flag to its own. But from an ancient folk sport called Lelos, another full-contact ball sport. The national team's nickname is The Lelos. The game was introduced in the 50s and since then Georgia have been one of the fastest developing rugby nations, both under the USSR and as an independent nation. Despite there being only 2866 registered players they have been improving at quite a rate according to the IRB rankings. Like Georgia, rugby was introduced to Romania by the French. The Romanians took to the sport and managed a Olympic Bronze medal in 1924 back when you could win one. They also had a period in the 1980s were they claimed multiple victories over rugby powerhouses like Wales, France and Scotland. The collapse of communism all but destroyed the development of the game. But since then, they have rebuilt and have consistently been ranked in the top 20. Japan will host the Rugby World Cup in 2019, being the first Tier 2 nation to do so. The game's growth is another assisted by a native sport. Kemari played a significantly cultural role in the emergence of both soccer and rugby in Japan. Nowadays, despite being behind soccer and baseball, rugby still is popular with its own professional league that has attracted various stars of the game thanks to big pay packets. Another nation which has grown consistently since the inception of the rankings. Whilst nowhere near the popularity of 'The Big Four'. Rugby Union in Canada and the USA is popular and growing fast. It no doubt benefits from parallels with American and Canadian Football. In the past decade the USA has seen more than a threefold increase in playing numbers. The introduction of Rugby Sevens as an Olympic sport in 2016 has been a big factor in this rise. Rugby dates as far back as the 1820s and it is almost seen as a matter of time until there is a North American host of the Rugby World Cup. Either in 2023 or 2027.