đ The Week in International Sport
Monday April 20th: women's handball, England in age-grade rugby and Vivien Endemann
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:
đłđ´ Norway leading the way in womenâs handball
đ Chart of the week: assessing Englandâs level in age-grade rugby union
âŞď¸ Highlight of the week: Vivien Endemannâs unusual skill
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.)
đłđ´ Norway lead the first edition of the womenâs handball ratings
When I introduced my first set of rankings for menâs international handball teams a couple of months ago, I wondered how fairly my system rated nations from Europe â the continent that dominates the sport â relative to those from elsewhere.
Are European teams punished by the high level of competition they face in regional tournaments? In the womenâs game, the question is immaterial: nations from Europe make up the entire top six of the first set of rankings below. (Brazil (5.5) are the top-ranked team from another continent, sitting seventh; Egypt are in second place in the menâs game.) Two countries from the menâs top three â France (7.0) and Denmark (6.6) â are also present in the womenâs, but both trail Norway (7.5) by a distance.
EHF Euro 2026 will be played in December, and the draw has just taken place after the conclusion of the second qualifying phase. Neither Norway nor Denmark featured, having finished in the top three of the 2024 edition; Hungary (5.4) were the other nation to get an automatic berth. Each of the top-six teams above who were required to take part went unbeaten in their qualifiers â but so too did Spain (4.2), whose best finish at a European Championship over the last decade is ninth.
đ Chart of the week: Why donât England dominate age-grade rugby?
England took care of Scotland in womenâs rugby union on Saturday: they won their Six Nations match 84-7, and an earlier contest at the U21 age-grade by 51 points to 12. Would you expect anything else from the sportâs dominant force?
Actually, the picture is a bit more complicated than that. Since 2024, thereâs been a formal structure in place for matches at various age-grades between the traditional âSix Nationsâ. Over that period, England have been miles ahead of every other country at senior level: theyâve scored 83% of the points in their matches in the elite competition. Their performances at U18, U20 and U21 level have lagged far behind, though: in roughly 14 gamesâ worth of action, theyâve scored just 45% of the points.
Itâs France â the second-best team at senior level over this stretch â who dominate underage womenâs rugby union in Europe. (Their aggregate point share at U18, U20 and U21 level is 84%.) What can we take away from this? My read is that Englandâs dominance of the sport at senior level is not because of a pipeline from the grassroots game bursting with talent; rather, this analysis suggests that their professional system adds a lot of value as players progress up to and through the senior ranks.
âŞď¸ Highlight of the week: Vivien Endemannâs unusual skill
Optaâs soccer data uses the great descriptor âother body partsâ for shots at goal which do not directly come off either foot or a playerâs head. To me, it conjures a mental image of a ball bundled messily across the line â not put away with control.
At first glance, you wouldnât think that Vivien Endemannâs goal for Germany in their recent World Cup qualifier against Austria should fall into this category, such was the poise with which the 24-year-old redirected a cross from the right into the back of the net. On closer inspection, though, it was one of the most skilful finishes off the shin I can remember seeing: meeting the ball on the full, Endemann sent it towards the bottom corner as smoothly as if she was completing a pass with the side of her foot.
You can watch a replay of this goal on YouTube here.
đ What else I learned last week
For the Financial Times, Chris Kay spoke to the chair of the Indian Premier League about its relationship to menâs test, ODI and T20I cricket. The most financially lucrative of the sportâs franchise tournaments is angling to be given more room in its calendar to expand â at the expense of traditional international fixtures. In their vision of the future, there are âfewer bilaterals, more league cricket, and in between you have [International Cricket Council] events, a bit like [soccer]â.
For The Athletic, Tim Graham continued to cover the professional American football players who hope to play flag football for the USA at the Olympics next year by examining the injury risk associated with changing formats. A former NFL strength and conditioning coach explained: âThese are unorthodox movements that arenât being trainedâŚWhen youâre not training on a day-in-day-out basis on certain, specific types of movements, youâre always going to be at a higher riskâ.
For Stuff, Merryn Anderson interviewed Grace Kukutai, a rugby league player from New Zealand, after she briefly returned to top-level netball. Kukutai â who has also played elite rugby union and rugby sevens â was granted permission by her NRLW coach to play one ANZ Premiership match for her old team as injury cover. She came through unscathed: âI donât want to let fear hold me back from doing cool stuffâŚIâm glad my body was prepared enough that I handled it well.â
The next edition of the newsletter will be published on Monday April 27th.
