England Lead August 2026 Wheelchair Rankings as France Close In
England led the August 2026 wheelchair rugby league rankings. See the confirmed top five, France’s July results and how IRL weights matches.
England remained No.1 in the IRL wheelchair world rankings announced on 21 August 2026, with France second, Ireland third and Australia fourth. Wales were fifth. France had narrowed the gap on England after winning twice against Ireland in July, but those results had not changed the order at the top. IRL’s dated rankings announcement confirms these leading positions.
These are the wheelchair international rankings, separate from the men’s and women’s thirteen-a-side lists.
The leading positions in the August update
| Rank | Nation | Context in the 21 August announcement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | Retained the lead held since winning the 2022 wheelchair World Cup final |
| 2 | France | Closed the gap after two July victories over Ireland |
| 3 | Ireland | Retained third place following another Celtic Cup title |
| 4 | Australia | Remained behind Ireland |
| 5 | Wales | Identified as fifth-ranked ahead of their World Cup opener against England |
Table date: 21 August 2026. These are the five leading positions confirmed in IRL’s announcement, not the complete rankings. The announcement does not supply numerical ranking-point totals. IRL’s live world rankings page carries the wider list, but an undated live table should not be treated as an August archive.
France’s July results: progress without a change of leader
IRL attributed France’s gains to victories over Ireland in Perpignan on 11 and 12 July 2026. Ireland nevertheless retained third place, with the August announcement also highlighting their back-to-back Celtic Cup titles against Wales and Scotland. Source: IRL.
The second France–Ireland match gives useful context to the final margin. On 12 July, France won 66–36 at Halle Marcel Cerdan, but Ireland had led 26–20 at half-time. France therefore outscored Ireland 46–10 in the second half—a calculation from the recorded half-time and full-time scores. Joseph Calcott scored five tries for Ireland; Léo Hivernat scored four tries and kicked six goals for France. Official match record.
Under IRL’s published method, the 30-point winning margin contributes to the ranking calculation; it is not itself a ranking score. Nor do two defeats automatically move a team down a place: the rankings account for a wider period of results.
How the wheelchair rankings are calculated
IRL ranks nations using performances over the current season and the three preceding seasons. Its published method takes account of:
- Result: win, loss or draw.
- Margin: a larger winning margin has greater ranking value.
- Opposition: facing a higher-ranked team carries greater value than facing a lower-ranked one.
- Recency: results in the most recent two years receive twice the weight of results three years old and four times that of results four years old.
- Competition: World Cup matches carry the highest weighting, followed by World Cup qualifiers, regional championships and one-off internationals.
Only officially sanctioned senior matches between two approved members count. These rules appear in the August announcement’s ranking explanation.
The distinction matters when reading the August positions: they measure accumulated, weighted international performance—not just July form, a tournament league table or a prediction of the next World Cup winner.