Jamaica's Rugby League squad off

Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's Rugby League squad is ranked 27th of 28 teams in the world, according to the revamped official world rankings that were unveiled on Thursday.

The rankings were released as the locally based players departed for the United Kingdom (UK) on Thursday for a one-week training camp, after which the full squad travels to Philadelphia in the United States for 2013 World Cup qualifiers against the United States and South Africa.

Included in the squad that departed for the UK is Ryan Grant of G.C. Foster College and Romean Campbell of The Mico University College, Jamaica's first two Rugby League scholarship recipients.

Australia lead the world rankings going into their fixture with New Zealand, the current World Cup and Four Nations holders, next Sunday, October 16, at Ausgrid Stadium in Newcastle.

New Zealand, England, Papua New Guinea and France make up the top five teams in the world rankings.

regular fixtures essential

"From today, we can accurately reflect the relative position of each of the growing number of international rugby league nations based upon their on-field performance," said Rugby League International Federation chairman, Scott Carter, in announcing the rankings.

"Regular fixtures between nations are essential for the development and growth of the game globally. With more recognised international activity, we expect that the official world rankings will provide not only a benchmark for the nations, but also ongoing interest for the fans."

Romeo Monteith, Jamaica's Rugby League development officer, says the rankings are a true reflection of Jamaica's standing, but indicated the team could move up after the qualifiers set for later this month.

"I think the ranking is a fair reflection of our international activities," said Monteith. "We have played four games while most of the teams ahead of us have played more games over the past four years. Coming out of the upcoming qualifiers we will hopefully move up. The US (44.72) is ranked 13th, so if we beat them we can move up."

factors considered

The world rankings are calculated on each nation's performance over the current season and the four preceding ones. Points are awarded to each team for each match based on the result, the margin, the relative strength of the opposition faced, the date of the match (more recent matches are weighted more heavily) and the importance of the match. World Cup matches, for example, are given greater weighting than a regular international.

The points are then used to create the official world rankings by ordering the teams by virtue of the points gained over the five-season period. Only matches played at senior level between two approved members are considered as part of the rankings.

Based on those rankings, Jamaica currently have 13.78 ranking points, with only Sweden behind with 3.90 ranking points.

However, Jamaica have only been playing rugby league for seven years now, and only played their first international in 2009, against the United States in November that year. Since that time, Jamaica have played four internationals, losing three and winning one.

The world rankings are automatically updated on the first day of every month. If that falls in the middle of an international series, the update will occur immediately following the series. There are currently 12 Rugby League playing nations that are unranked.