Rankings Explained

"How good are we?" Until now it has been impossible for a school to answer that question, but now Canterbury Rankings in association with SchoolsSports.com lets rugby playing schools know exactly where they stand in the pecking order.

Historically, schools have not played in structured leagues, instead playing long-established fixture lists against mostly local rivals. There have been national knock-out competitions which have been around for many years, but these are not leagues and the beauty of them is that they are based upon one-off knock out matches and sometimes the underdog can win.

In order to truly find the strongest team over a long season, Canterbury Rankings in association with SchoolsSports.com have developed software that ranks teams, based on their weekly results, taking into account their performance and the number of matches played. It is recognized that not all teams play the same number of fixtures, so the points are then further adjusted to produce an average number of points per match.

Whilst the ranking system is driven by the science of the software, human judgment has a vital role to play. Everyone is able to make their own judgements as to which is the best team. Indeed this encourages debate, which we always support at grass roots rugby. Also, every month our Advisory Board will advise on which teams deserve recognition and reward, even if they are not at the top of the league. The Advisory Board is made up of a number of highly experienced masters and coaches who know the schools rugby circuit well and are qualified to identify those teams whose performance deserves recognition in the current season.

Results used for Canterbury Schools Rankings will meet the following criteria:

- Every match that is 15-a-side will be included.

- Tournament and short matches are also included - where a team will put their reputation on the line!

The season is deemed to start on 1st July end on 30th June.