World Rugby is making a pretty big change to how teams earn world rankings points. The old system where the home team got a built-in ratings bump? That’s gone starting July 1, 2026.
The governing body confirmed the removal of what they call the ‘home weighting’ factor from both the men’s and women’s rankings. This is the first real rewrite of the formula since men’s rankings launched back in October 2003.
The reasoning is straightforward enough. More international Tests are happening at neutral sites now than ever before. Tournaments are getting moved to centralized locations for business reasons. So the old model where one team always got a three-point ratings boost just for playing at home doesn’t fit anymore.
“This weighting saw the home team receiving an additional three rating points for calculation purposes, effectively cancelling out the advantage of playing at home and meaning winning at home often has a smaller impact on the rankings than winning away,” World Rugby said in a statement.
That same rule applied to host unions for the Rugby World Cup, the Pacific Nations Cup, WXV and regional competitions. But with so many games now played in neutral venues, the governing body says the home weighting was actually hurting host teams from a rankings standpoint.
You don’t have to look far to see why this matters. Fiji will play all three of their ‘home’ Nations Championship matches this year in the United Kingdom. Japan takes on Ireland next month in Australia. Tonga is hosting games in the USA and Canada. The WXV Global Series Challenger is being held in Hong Kong.
World Rugby says roughly 20 matches across international competitions are scheduled for neutral sites before the end of 2026. That includes the Springboks vs. All Blacks game in Baltimore, which is the final match in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series. So yes, that game will be played under the new rules too.
For anyone who tracks the rankings closely, this changes the math on how teams gain and lose ground. A road win used to move you up more than a home win. Under the new system, a win is just a win regardless of where the game is played. Same points either way.
The current men’s rankings have South Africa on top at 93.94, followed by New Zealand at 90.33 and Ireland at 89.07. On the women’s side, England holds a commanding lead at 98.09 over New Zealand’s 91.60 and Canada’s 89.78.
Those numbers might shift faster now. Or maybe not. Depends who’s playing where.
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