Hey Guys, Canada is only 0.73 rating points below Peace Team at this stage in the IC but because there are 2 countries in between it makes the difference between Canada and Peace team look a lot larger than it really is.

Flyinghigh suggests that the bottom will always look messy but really the bottom teams are all properly placed. I think the middle will tend to look messy whilst we have new teams entering the Ranks.

We have 4 teams all on 37points and Tonga is about to joih in with around 40 points. 5 of its 8 provisional games have been against teams where the rating gap was more than 10 points and since they lose no points in those matches they are still around 40points.

Its not the system that is the problem (I'm not suggesting we scrap the IC's) it is the fact that we still only have 19 fully ranked teams five of which are still 10 games or less and we keep having too many contests between teams that are miles apart in standard(rating gap larger than 10.00 points). That problem will slowly disappear as we have more regional competitions.

As you say Brett Canada do tend to keep losing and I don't mean to be brutal here but I think there are many who possibly hold Canada up as a Shining Light (because they have been around for along time and of the record against USA) and consequently, dare I say it, overrate them.

I think by IC11 end both Canada and Peace Team will have the rating points they deserve but because of the traffic jam around 40-37 points some teams might be ranked slightly higher than they probably deserve.(but only one or two places at most)

Canada has beaten SA (back in 2002 and 2005) Sweden(in 2008)(both lower then)and PeaceTeam(only teams currently ranked higher)they have lost to all other higher ranked teams(except USA once).

Peace Team lose to France tomorrow and they lose 2.83 points to 35.03 which puts them down lower than Canada, Sweden and Germany. Canada win tomorrow against Japan they climb up 2.56 points to 39.70.

I still have much faith in the system and it will get better as we get a few more teams into the ranks.

Cam