The WXV wraps up this weekend and while there isn't really a championship tracked, we at GRR World Headquarters do track it.
Remember that not everyone plays everyone else. And few schedules are comparable to other schedules—top-ranked teams play top-ranked teams, but it's all different because there's some crossover between ranked tiers.
So what we did was track teams based on their record, using the old, established bonus points system.
Then we added in a wrinkle based on World Rugby rankings. We used the rankings finalized just before the WXV Global Series started, because that's when the schedule was made and when the Powers That Be decided who would play whom.
So here's what we did. We totaled up the ranking of each opponent a single team plays. Then we divided that number into the number of standings points a team had. The idea, then, is if you play higher-ranked teams, the opponents ranking total would be a small number, and when you divide by a small number, your result doesn't drop a lot.
But if you divide by a larger number, as in a total of lower-ranked teams, then you points drop further.
So, take two teams that are 3-1.
Team A has 3 bonus points and a points total of 15
Team B has 4 bonus points and a points total of 16
However, Team A played teams ranked 5th, 6th, 8th, and 11th. Rankings total would be 30; 15 divided by 29 is 0.5 (we expand that to three digits so: 0.500).
Team B played teams ranked 15th, 16th, 17th, and 20th. Rankings total would be 69: 16 divided by 69 is .231.
So, understanding that, here's how the WXV standings, using our system, looks like.
