It's Official - IRB rankings are nonsense!

davyjose

It seems that ever since Argentina reached the semi-finals of the WC (that's the last FOUR), they have slipped two places from FOURth!!! to Sixth. They even managed to leapfrog Australia who remain in 5th. /Scratches head repeatedly

http://www.irb.com/rankings/index.html

MooseJam

pretty strange all right, but those rankings aren't quite as simple as you got to the semi's so you must be fourth best

Blisterman

Each team's ranking is based on a points system, where teams gain or lose points depending on who wins, when they play a match.
Since South Africa beat argentina, south Africa gained points. Argentina lost enough points, to put them just behind Australia, in the rankings.

marco_polo

davyjose wrote: »

It seems that ever since Argentina reached the semi-finals of the WC (that's the last FOUR), they have slipped two places from FOURth!!! to Sixth. They even managed to leapfrog Australia who remain in 5th. /Scratches head repeatedly

http://www.irb.com/rankings/index.html

The IRB rankings are usualy quite accurate and they look about right to me TBH. Could quibble anout Argentina and Australia maybe swapping places but thats about it.

For world cup matches ranking points count double so that accounts for englands big gain in recent weeks, as they have beaten two higher ranked sides in the QF and SF.

As for Argentina, before the semi final they were 4th and SA were 3rd (86.44 points to 86.04) , they took a fairly large beating to a side they were ranked very close to and they lost a good lot of points as a result.

I fail to see the surprise TBH.

ednwireland

never realised Poland had a team well you learn something every day
edit forgot to mention seems mad you get to the last four and lose places
most of the minnows dont seem to have moved either

davyjose

Blisterman wrote: »

Each team's ranking is based on a points system, where teams gain or lose points depending on who wins, when they play a match.
Since South Africa beat argentina, south Africa gained points. Argentina lost enough points, to put them just behind Australia, in the rankings.

I have a vague understanding of how it works, but I'm not sure I agree with it. How can a team go from 4th best to 6th best overnight, by simply losing a game? Considering the impact the last World Cup rankings had, I would have liked a more reasonable system.

robinph

davyjose wrote: »

How can a team go from 4th best to 6th best overnight, by simply losing a game?

Because the rankings were very close before hand but then the actual game results were not that close so that affects how much the ranking change by.

Was there any changes for the lower ranked teams during the pool stages with several of them getting unexpected wins or very close results?

marco_polo

davyjose wrote: »

I have a vague understanding of how it works, but I'm not sure I agree with it. How can a team go from 4th best to 6th best overnight, by simply losing a game? Considering the impact the last World Cup rankings had, I would have liked a more reasonable system.

Losing the game brought them just below Australia so the should have only lost one place, but the fact that England beat France who were well ahead of them pre game, meant that they gained a large number of ranking points (doubled for RWC time) and were able to leapfrog France, Argentina and Australia as a result.

During the 6N and Trinations the ranking changes are not usually so dramatic. Honest!

robinph wrote: »

Because the rankings were very close before hand but then the actual game results were not that close so that affects how much the ranking change by.

Was there any changes for the lower ranked teams during the pool stages with several of them getting unexpected wins or very close results?

Fiji went from 12th to 9th (Essentially at the expense of Italy and Wales). The rest pretty much stayed the same bar a position or two either way.

Punchbowl

God, when you look at who's beneath us, it makes for depressing reading...

England, in 3rd, despite the mauling by SA - the last one, not next weeks :-)

robinph

Punchbowl wrote: »

England, in 3rd, despite the mauling by SA - the last one, not next weeks :-)

But at that point England would have been several place below SA so the ranking points lost due to that would have been a lot less than what they gained from then beating Aus and France who were above them.

Junior

davyjose wrote: »

I have a vague understanding of how it works, but I'm not sure I agree with it. How can a team go from 4th best to 6th best overnight, by simply losing a game? Considering the impact the last World Cup rankings had, I would have liked a more reasonable system.

http://www.irb.com/rankings/explain/index.html

Knock yourself out..

davyjose

No I think some people misunderstand the point I'm making. 1 week ago Argentina were better than Australia, now according to therankings they are worse. Now, I don't care how many formulae you come up with to prove it. Argentina haven't suddenly become a worse side.

chris85

If SA do well against england, they should get top spot in the rankings. Since england are in third, south africa will get some good ranking points for beating them.

New Zealand will not be happy to lose top spot if they do!!

RuggieBear

davyjose wrote: »

Argentina haven't suddenly become a worse side.

yes they have.:D they've gone from been a winning side to a losing side.

Downtime

ednwireland wrote: »

never realised Poland had a team well you learn something every day

Their flanker - Rafal Sajur - plays for Terenure. He is a beast of a lad.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

marco_polo

davyjose wrote: »

No I think some people misunderstand the point I'm making. 1 week ago Argentina were better than Australia, now according to therankings they are worse. Now, I don't care how many formulae you come up with to prove it. Argentina haven't suddenly become a worse side.

How can you say with certainty that they are a better side if they have not played in recent times. Should the IRB ranking instead be based on your perception of who is the better team?

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on in ranking systems, however the IRB ones are clearly much better than their FIFA equivelant. Looking at the huge gap in terms of ranking points between the top 6 sides and the rest lead by Ireland, they must be doing something right.