# Latvia national rugby league team

The Latvia national rugby league team was established in 2008 to represent Latvia at rugby league football, and initially competed in the European Bowl, for fourth-tier developing nations. They beat Estonia in a two-game series and therefore won the inaugural tournament after Ukraine could not gain visas to travel. In 2009 they reached the second place after losing to Ukraine and defeating Estonia. In 2010 they played in the European Shield, losing to Russia and Ukraine. After a hiatus of several years, Latvia returned to international competition on May 9, 2015 for the first match of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying process, taking on Spain in a one-off knockout match to determine the final participants in the 'European C' section. However, in 2024 the Latvian federation was expelled from the IRL due to "several years" of inactivity, thus the team is currently dormant.

## History

On 9 May 2015, Latvia and Spain kicked off proceedings for the qualifying fixtures for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying. It was a do or die match with the winner advancing to a qualifying group stage, already containing Malta and Greece, while the other would lose their chance of qualifying for their first ever World Cup. The Latvians' home advantage had no effect as they went down to the Spaniards by 20 points, ending their chance of participating in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.

## Results
### Overall

| Team | First Played | Played | Win | Draw | Loss | Points For | Points Against | Last Meeting |
| Estonia | 2007 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 238 | 62 | 2009 |
| Ukraine | 2009 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 152 | 2010 |
| Russia | 2010 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 54 | 2010 |
| Spain | 2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 32 | 2015 |
| TOTAL | | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 260 | 300 | |

### World Cup

World Cup record :
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | D |
| 2017 | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify | Failed to qualify |
| Total | 0 Titles | 0/13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Results

| Opponent | Points | Date | Venue | Report |
| Estonia | 54 - 38 | 2007-10-21 | Tallinn | |
| Estonia | 48 - 10 | 2008-06-28 | Tallinn | Report |
| Estonia | 62 - 10 | 2008-08-03 | Riga | Report |
| Ukraine | 6 - 40 | 2009-07-24 | Riga | Report |
| Estonia | 74 - 4 | 2009-08-08 | Tallinn | Report |
| Russia | 4 - 54 | 2010-07-31 | Riga | Report |
| Ukraine | 0 - 112 | 2010-09-18 | Kyiv | Report |
| Spain | 12 - 32 | 2015-05-09 | Riga | Report |

## IRL Rankings

IRL Men's World Rankingsvte :
| Official rankings as of December 2024 ||||
| Rank | Change | Team | Pts % |
| 1 | | Australia | 100 |
| 2 | | New Zealand | 86 |
| 3 | | England | 84 |
| 4 | 1 | Tonga | 63 |
| 5 | 1 | Samoa | 54 |
| 6 | 1 | Papua New Guinea | 53 |
| 7 | 1 | Fiji | 44 |
| 8 | | France | 30 |
| 9 | 2 | Serbia | 23 |
| 10 | | Cook Islands | 22 |
| 11 | 1 | Netherlands | 22 |
| 12 | 5 | Wales | 18 |
| 13 | 2 | Malta | 17 |
| 14 | 6 | Ukraine | 13 |
| 15 | 1 | Greece | 12 |
| 16 | 7 | Lebanon | 12 |
| 17 | 4 | Italy | 11 |
| 18 | 2 | Ireland | 9 |
| 19 | 1 | Jamaica | 8 |
| 20 | 1 | Czech Republic | 8 |
| 21 | 2 | Chile | 8 |
| 22 | 3 | Scotland | 7 |
| 23 | 4 | Philippines | 7 |
| 24 | 7 | United States | 7 |
| 25 | 1 | Poland | 5 |
| 26 | 2 | South Africa | 5 |
| 27 | 5 | Germany | 5 |
| 28 | 3 | Norway | 5 |
| 29 | 4 | Brazil | 4 |
| 30 | 4 | Kenya | 4 |
| 31 | 10 | Canada | 4 |
| 32 | | Montenegro | 4 |
| 33 | 2 | North Macedonia | 3 |
| 34 | 15 | Argentina | 3 |
| 35 | 5 | Albania | 2 |
| 36 | | Bulgaria | 2 |
| 37 | 7 | Ghana | 2 |
| 38 | 9 | Nigeria | 2 |
| 39 | 5 | Turkey | 1 |
| 40 | 3 | Cameroon | 1 |
| 41 | 2 | Japan | 1 |
| 42 | 4 | Spain | 1 |
| 43 | 1 | Colombia | 1 |
| 44 | 1 | El Salvador | 0 |
| 45 | | Russia | 0 |
| 46 | 1 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 |
| 47 | 3 | Hong Kong | 0 |
| 48 | 3 | Solomon Islands | 0 |
| 49 | 8 | Vanuatu | 0 |
| 50 | | Niue | 0 |
| 51 | 1 | Latvia | 0 |
| 52 | 2 | Denmark | 0 |
| 53 | 2 | Belgium | 0 |
| 54 | 4 | Estonia | 0 |
| 55 | 9 | Sweden | 0 |
| 56 | 12 | Morocco | 0 |
| 57 | 9 | Hungary | 0 |
| Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT ||||