Making Sense of the WXV Records

10.22.2026Eagles, Int'l News

USA vs Ireland in the 2026 WXV. USA won 40-36.

Author: Alex Goff

The WXV Global Series does not publish a standings, and there's likely a reason for that.

Right now, not every team has played the same number of games. The opposition is not the same for each team. Those are two reasons. The other is that there's not really a strict division between the tiers of teams, either. You see teams that play the highest-ranked opponents cross over and play teams from a lower tier, and that happens throughout.

So, with all of that we figured we'd have a look at it all.

First off, the statement that the USA is the only undefeated team in the WXV Series is not quite correct, because Fiji is also 3-0.

But, you say, Fiji is playing easier opposition. This is true. But it is also true of the USA compared to, say, Canada.

We figured, then, we'd take a look at everyone's record. And we decided to look at them three different ways.

So currently this is the table of all the teams in action so far judging solely by winning percentage, with points difference being the tiebreaker.

As you can see, Fiji it at the top with a better points difference than the USA. However, what about if we put in the bonus point system, with four points for a win, two for a tie, one for a loss within 7, and one for four tries scored.

Then it changes:

Once again the USA is not first, pipped by New Zealand, who have played an extra game. Notice that England and Fiji are tied even in points difference!

This method is pretty harsh on Canada and France, for example, and rather generous to Fiji and Netherlands.

OK, so let's do it a different way. What we did was take the World Rugby Rankings from September 7, which was the last rankings before the games started. Then we totaled up the rankings for a team's opponent, and divided that number into the team's points total.

The idea here is that a smaller (thus better) ranking number would reduce a standings points total by less. If you beat the #20 team that would be, on it's own, 0.200 points, but if you got four tries against the #3 team that would be 0.333, and, we'd argue, that's accurate. You should get more reward for doing something against a really highly-ranked team.

So here's how that shakes out:

Once again, the USA is not on top. Rightfully so the top spot is shared by New Zealand and Canada, who have played very highly-ranked teams and done quite well.

This isn't a bad ranking. It rewards those playing top teams, but only if you do something. Notice Scotland getting blown out by New Zealand, Canada, and Australia twice hasn't helped them because they couldn't score much in the way of standings points. And if we at GRR World Headquarters were ranking these teams the way we rank college teams, we'd treat Scotland the same ... we can't know anything about you because you're not in the conversation in the any game.

USA 5th just behind Australia? Seems about right, although we'd pick the Eagles over the Wallaroos if they met.

Can this change? Yes it can. The Eagles play two more matches, which has been great for them. They will end up with a total opposition rankings score of 31, and if they get a bonus-point win and get a bonus point in the other game, they will bypass Australia.

So this is all our invention. World Rugby works their own rankings. But hopefully it shows where the Eagles, and everybody else, really is within the pecking order of this WXV Global Series.

Making Sense of the WXV Records

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