đ The Week in International Sport
Monday April 6th: an introduction to baseball5, rugby geography and Max Dowman
This year at Plot the Ball, Iâm using data to try and better understand the landscape of international team sport. For some background to this project â which Iâm calling âRank the Nationsâ â you can read my introductory post here.
In todayâs edition of The Week in International Sport:
đčđŒ Taiwan winning an Asian title in baseball5
đŠđș Australia winning an Asian title in womenâs 3x3 basketball
đ Chart of the week: assessing the top sources of womenâs rugby union talent
âȘïž Highlight of the week: Max Dowmanâs magic trick
đ A few other interesting things I learned
As a reminder: the team ratings used in this newsletter are on a zero-to-10 scale, and are calculated based on a nationâs performance in competitive fixtures in a given sport since the start of the 2022 calendar year. (For more detail, click here.)
đčđŒ Taiwan win the 2026 Baseball5 Asia Cup
Baseball5? Itâs not a typo. Back in 2017, the WBSC introduced a quickfire, mixed-gender version of baseball to âgrow the gameâ. However, its resemblance to either baseball or softball â the other sport overseen by the WBSC â is questionable.
Each sportâs fundamental component â the contest between pitcher and batter â is eliminated, with baseball5 hitters initiating play by whacking a small rubber ball into the field of play with one hand. Leaving that aside: how successful has it actually been at growing the game? Each of the nations in the top five of the team ratings below has at least some pedigree in menâs baseball: Cuba, Taiwan, Japan and Venezuela also appeared in this yearâs WBC, while China had qualified for every previous edition.
The success story of the sportâs first decade might be Thailand (5.6). Their menâs baseball team hasnât played enough elite matches since 2022 to receive a rating, and their womenâs softball team is currently ranked 14th out of 15 qualifying nations; in baseball5, however, they rank sixth overall. In their latest Asia Cup appearance last week, they reached the semi-finals for the first time and finished third overall. Taiwan (7.7) took out the title, but remain far behind global standard-setters Cuba (9.3).
đŠđș Australia win the 2026 FIBA Womenâs 3x3 Asia Cup
Australia (6.7) continue to dominate womenâs 3x3 basketball in Asia: after winning the 2026 edition of the Asia Cup, they have now claimed four consecutive continental titles. They were unbeaten in their five matches, scoring 65% of the total points.
They are yet to excel on the global stage, though; their best-ever World Cup finish is third, and they placed fifth in their only Olympics. China (5.8) â who lost to Australia in these Asia Cup semis â have actually recorded better finishes in both tournaments.
đ Chart of the week: Where does top womenâs rugby talent come from?
Two major international womenâs rugby union tournaments will kick off this weekend: the Six Nations â contested by Europeâs top teams â and the Pacific Four Series. To casual followers of the sport, one country will be conspicuously absent: South Africa.
Along with New Zealand and England, they are one of just three nations to have won a World Cup in either menâs or womenâs rugby union this century. Both of the others have some pedigree in each version; in South Africa, however, the menâs game is much, much stronger. Consider the âDream Teamâ selected annually by the sportâs global governing body since 2021: South Africa account for 29% of all selections in the menâs game â but theyâre still waiting to record their first womenâs selection.
âȘïž Highlight of the week: Max Dowmanâs magic trick
Iâve lived in England almost all of my adult life, but over that time Iâve struggled to warm to its sports teams and athletes as much as I do to those from other nations. A number of young prodigies might finally be starting to change that.
One is Henry Pollock, the 21-year-old rugby union player I wrote about last year. Another is 16-year-old Max Dowman. The England under-19 soccer international scored an astounding goal against Portugal during the recent international break: after feinting to let the ball roll past both him and his marker, he dribbled from the halfway line to the edge of the box before shooting low into the corner of the net. Some players are so talented you have no choice but to marvel at them.
You can watch a replay of this goal on Instagram here.
đ What else I learned last week
For ESPN, Ryan OâHanlon ranked the 48 international menâs soccer teams set to compete in this yearâs FIFA World Cup. By a combination of estimated squad value and Elo rating, current holders Argentina sit in seventh position. How reliant do they remain on Lionel Messi? âIn World Cup qualifying, he played only 581 minutes, the 10th most of any Argentine player. Despite that, he led the team in expected possession value addedâŠ, expected assists and non-penalty goals.â
For The Athletic, Tim Graham covered the fallout from the recent Fanatics Flag Football Classic. The USA menâs national team dominated squads containing several NFL stars in an invitational tournament last month. Quarterback Darrell Doucette said: âThey were taking it for granted at first until they stepped on the field and saw how different it was. Some [NFL] guys came up to us afterward and said, âMan, yâall were right. This isnât what we thought it was going to be.ââ
For ABC, Simon Smale reported on the surprise defection of one of the top menâs water polo players in Australia to Croatia â one of the strongest teams in the sport. World Aquatics recently reversed changes to its eligibility rules; after increasing its required waiting period to three years in 2023, since March 2025 athletes changing nations have only been required to spend â12 months of uninterrupted residency in [their] new nationâ.
The next edition of the newsletter will be published in two weeksâ time, on Monday April 20th.
